FUNCTIONAL HEALTH LITERACY LEVEL AND BEHAVIOR IN THE HEALTH OF THE ELDERLY

Objective: to evaluate the level of functional health literacy in elderly people and to discuss its influence on the health behaviour of these people. Method: a cross-sectional, exploratory-descriptive study, characterized as mixed research design, convergence model. Data collection was carried out between August and November 2016 and occurred in the homes of 175 residents in the inner cities of the State of Rio Grande do Sul (Brasil), classified as elderly by the application of the S-TOFHLA instrument, of which ten answered the open interview on health behaviour. The Pearsonfs chi-square test; Fisherfs exact ƒ?=5% and p.0.05; and thematic content analysis were used for data analysis. Results: the functional health literacy level was inadequate in 39.4% of the elderly study participants. There was an association between functional health literacy and gender variables; age group; schooling and number of children (p.0.005). The Health Behaviour category was subdivided into the subcategories: Role of the health professional, Family and friends support, Custom and subjectivity, with transversality of functional health literacy. Conclusion: this study reiterated the importance of evaluating the level of functional health literacy in the overall care of the elderly person as a relevant initiative to adequately plan health actions with the aim to improve results in the production of care