It may be necessary for nurses to make an effort to improve older people's expectations about ageing to help them achieve good health. Nursing interventions to improve these expectations need to be used in conjunction with an emphasis on older people's active involvement in health-promoting behaviour.

Simplified informed consent was effective in enhancing participant's subjective and objective understanding regardless of health literacy.

Results: A high proportion of older adults were unable to read and understand written basic medical instructions. Only 40-50% were able to comprehend directions for taking medication four times a day or on an empty stomach. Only 11-38% were able to understand information regarding treatment procedure, informed consent, or educational material for elderly fall prevention. Individuals who were older, single, and had less education and income were more likely to have lower functional health literacy. After adjusting for sociodemographic variables, individuals with lower health literacy had poorly perceived health status. Conclusion: Many Korean older adults have a very low level of fuctional literacy. Low health literacy was independently associated with poorly perceived health status.

No abstract

This study was performed to identify the patterns and mechanisms of the development of personal strength of bereaved older adults over a 4-year period after spousal death. The findings showed that while bereaved older adults, on average, experienced a moderate level of personal strength at 6 months post-spousal death with a slight increase over a 4-year period, there was a significant individual difference in the level of personal strength at 6 months post-spousal death. Finding meaning was a crucial factor influencing interindividual differences in personal strength at 6 months post-spousal death, mediating between social support and personal strength as well as caregiving strain and personal strength. Having higher religiosity was directly associated with a higher level of personal strength.