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Communication Disorders Quarterly
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An Investigation of the Relationship Between Health Literacy and Social Communication Skills in Older Adults

Eva Jackson Hester

Towson University, MD

The purpose of this study was to examine connections between health literacy and social communication skills in older adults, a population that experiences chronic health conditions but is reported to have low health literacy and declines in communication skills. Sixty-three older adults were administered the Social Communication subtest of the Functional Assessment of Communication Skills in Adults and the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults. Correlational statistics indicated significant relationships between social communication skills and health literacy in older adults. Aspects of social communication that involve initiating discourse, facial expressions, and voice tone were positively related to reading comprehension items that involve informing, naming, and requesting information. Results of the study suggest that social communication skills may possibly serve as predictors of health literacy. Further study of the potential relationships between these variables is needed to improve health literacy assessment and intervention for older adults.

Key Words: adult age • language assessment • functional communication • language/linguistics • pragmatics

This version was published on February 1, 2009

Communication Disorders Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 2, 112-119 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1525740108324040
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