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Health Literacy and Health Behavior

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Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging

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Health education; Health practice

Definition

Health literacy (HL) is defined as a set of individual capacities required to function in the healthcare environment, for example, the ability to read and comprehend drug labels (Nutbeam 1998). And it is also defined as a dynamic state in which individuals interact with the healthcare environment. HL could be depending on the health problem being encountered, the healthcare provider, and the healthcare system (Baker et al. 2000; Paasche-Orlow and Wolf 2007). HL is generally defined as the sensory, cognitive, and social abilities to access, understand, and interpret information required to make appropriate health decision in order to manage health demands (Institute of Medicine 2004; Nielsen-Bohlman et al. 2004; Nutbeam 1998; US Department of Health and Human Services 2000). A sub-branch of HL is eHealth literacy, which is defined as the ability to find, analyze, and apply health information using electronic resources (Norman et al. 2006...

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Correspondence to Janet Lok Chun Lee or Rainbow Tin Hung Ho .

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Lee, . . ., Ho, R.T.H. (2019). Health Literacy and Health Behavior. In: Gu, D., Dupre, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_866-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_866-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69892-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69892-2

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