IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i13p4903-d381506.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Health Literacy of Osteoporosis Risks among Caregivers Serving in Disability Care Facilities

Author

Listed:
  • Lan-Ping Lin

    (Department of Senior Citizen Care and Welfare, Ching Kuo Institute of Management and Health, Keelung 203, Taiwan)

  • Wei-Ju Lai

    (School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 114, Taiwan)

  • Shang-Wei Hsu

    (Department of Healthcare Administration, Asia University, Taichung 413, Taiwan)

  • Jin-Ding Lin

    (Institute of Long-Term Care, Mackay Medical College, New Taipei City 235, Taiwan)

Abstract

Osteoporosis is a global public health issue and its consequent effects are a growing concern worldwide. Caregivers generally experience occupational physical ailments and they have less of a tendency to engage in preventive health behaviors, leading them to be in a higher risk group for osteoporosis. This study aims to present a general profile of health literacy related to osteoporosis risks and identify its associated factors among disability institutional caregivers. A cross-sectional study with a structured questionnaire was used to collect information on 465 caregivers from seven disability care institutions regarding their awareness of the health literacy related to osteoporosis risks. The results indicate that the average literacy score related to osteoporosis risks among the respondents was 60 points (full score is 80 points), with 50–59 being the most common range (51.9%), followed by 60–69 points (43.5%), and 4.4% of cases had more than 70 points. A multivariate logistic regression model revealed that respondents’ age (40–49 vs. 18–29; odds ratio (OR) = 2.53, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.31–4.87), education level (senior high vs. primary and junior high, OR = 2.00, 95% CI = 1.03–3.89; college and above vs. primary and junior high, OR = 3.66, 95% CI = 1.84–7.31), experience in undergoing a bone density test (OR = 1.94, 95% CI = 1.28–2.93), and poor physical fitness status (OR = 0.64, 95% CI = 0.43–0.95) were the significant predictors of the osteoporosis health literacy level. The osteoporosis health literacy of institutional caregivers is moderate, and there are many items that are worthy of attention in future health promotion programs. This study highlights risk factors related to a lower level of osteoporosis healthy literacy such as older age, less education, no experience of bone density test, and poor physical fitness that highlight the need to raise further awareness in order to improve caregivers’ bone health.

Suggested Citation

  • Lan-Ping Lin & Wei-Ju Lai & Shang-Wei Hsu & Jin-Ding Lin, 2020. "Health Literacy of Osteoporosis Risks among Caregivers Serving in Disability Care Facilities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-11, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:13:p:4903-:d:381506
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/13/4903/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/13/4903/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:13:p:4903-:d:381506. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.