Effect of a community-based participatory health literacy program on health behaviors and health empowerment among community-dwelling older adults: A quasi-experimental study

This study evaluated the effect of a community-based participatory health literacy program aimed at improving the health behaviors and health empowerment for older adults. A two-group pretest and posttest quasi-experimental design with surveys conducted at baseline (T₁), immediately after the intervention (T₂), and 6 months after the intervention (T₃). The intervention group (n = 94) attended a 12-week health literacy program; while the comparison group (n = 78) did not. The results demonstrated that intervention group had significantly better health behavior practices for weight control (OR = 3.71, 95% CI = 1.59–8.64), regular exercise (OR = 15.26, 95% CI = 1.92–121.13), and health information navigation (OR = 2.61, 95% CI = 1.16–5.84). Health empowerment was significantly higher in the intervention group than the comparison group (p < 0.01).This study suggests that integrating community-based participatory design is effective in improving some health behaviors and health empowerment in older adults over a short period.