Abstract:
This descriptive research aims to study the relationship between health literacy and the exercise behavior of older adults at an elderly school, Ban Suan Subdistrict, Mueang Chonburi District, Chonburi Province. The sample consisted of older adults aged 60 and over, both male and female, randomly selected from the list of 186 persons. Data was collected by using a personal information questionnaire. The health literacy and the exercise behavior of older adults were analyzed by Descriptive Statistics and Multiple Linear Regression Statistics in the form of Stepwise. The results of studies showed that older adults have good knowledge of overall healthy literacy (69.3 percent) with an average score of 186.95 (26.50), and have good physical activity behavior (66.1 percent) with an average score of 37.65 (6.73), and the health literacy has a relationship with the exercise behavior of the elderly in elderly school in positive sign (r = 0.460; p-value<0.001). Once the relationship between health literacy and exercise behavior among the elderly is analyzed, it was found that a part of accessible information (Badj = 0.331; 95%CI: 0.149, 0.512) and a part of word of mouth (Badj = 0.300; 95%CI: 0.116, 0.484) were statistically significant factor related to exercise behavior.
Therefore, encouraging older adults to have more exercise habits is necessary to strengthen accessibility skills by encouraging the elderly to choose appropriate resources. To develop the process of accessibility to be easily accessible, meet the needs of the elderly, and encourage the elderly to share or pass on their health care information to others. To have people around them be aware and develop their exercise habits more, there should be more studies about exercise programs that enhance health literacy skills for the excellent health of older people.