Background: Low health literacy is significantly linked to health disparity, and this link is particularly true for the disabled elderly. Despite 90% of the elderly population in Korea have chronic disease, there is limited research investigating health literacy in this population. This study aims to investigate (1) the level of health literacy and (2) factors associated with it among disabled elderly. Methods: A convenience community dwelling sample of disabled elderly aged 60 and over (N=212) was recruited from Busan, Korea. Health literacy was measured by using 16 items from Chew et al.’s self-reported measure (2004) and Andersen’s behavioral model theoretically guided this study (Andersen, 1995). Results: The participants’ average level of health literacy was 3.03 from 1 to 5 Likert scale. About 67% of the participants reported that they had difficulty to understand written health information, while about 71.2% were not confident when filling out medical forms. About 34.9% of the participants reported that they almost always (10.8%) and often (24.1%) had someone help them to read hospital materials. The participants’ education, literacy, income, and health care cost were positively associated with health literacy. Implications: Overall, disabled elderly in Korea reported a lower level of health literacy and this is lower than that of the elderly without disability (3.13) (Kim et al., 2014). Since our finding informed that health literacy is significantly linked to education and literacy, it is important to increase literacy education combined with community-based health literacy programs especially for the disabled elderly with low health literacy.
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