Health Literacy Among Older Adults-1판

The first graduate text to address health literacy in the aging population

Low health literacy is a critical issue among adults, with over one third found to have difficulty understanding such
basic information as that found on prescription bottles. This is the first graduate textbook to address key health
literacy issues as they affect the health and wellbeing of the aging population. Embracing a topic spanning numerous
disciplines, it features a dynamic, multicontextual systems approach and includes contributions from renowned scholars
and practitioners in gerontology, public health, social work, nursing, and other related fields. The text emphasizes
increasing health literacy among older adults through the use of technological tools and features, the most current
research, and evidence-based programs and practices.

The book provides expansive coverage of the intersection of technology and health literacy, highlighting innovative
approaches and discussing how to use technology with resource-limited groups. The text gives special consideration to
rural, impoverished, culturally diverse, and lowliteracy elders and presents gold standard intervention programs and
models. Also covered are the policy implications of programs focusing on increasing health literacy and future
directions for meeting the Healthy People 2020 initiative. Case studies, review questions, learning objectives, and
supplemental PowerPoint presentations will reinforce learning.

Key Features:

Provides a one-of-a-kind, multidisciplinary survey of the key health literacy issues of older adults
Focuses on increasing health literacy across the disciplines
Addresses a priority area of Healthy People 2020
Incorporates research and practice from gerontology, psychology, public health, social work, sociology, medicine, and
nursing
Includes case studies, review questions, learning objectives, and PowerPoint slides for assisting instructors

About the Author
Karen Kopera-Frye, PhD, Biedenharn Endowed Chair and Professor in Gerontology, Department Chair, Director of ULM’s
Institute of Gerontology, University of Louisiana at Monroe. Dr. Kopera-Frye received her BA, MA, and PhD from Wayne
State University, Detroit, MI, in Developmental and Clinical Psychology/Gerontology, Department of Psychology and
graduate Aging certification from there. She completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Washington,
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She has conducted research on elder issues for 27 years including
older adult health promotion. Dr. Kopera-Frye came to the University of Louisiana at Monroe as the Endowed Chair in
Gerontology/Professor from the University of Nevada-Reno in Fall 2009. She became interested in health literacy in
2007, when she was selected for specialized training as a Scholar in Health Literacy through a grant awarded to the
University of Nevada-Reno Geriatric Education Center. Her research interests include health literacy, health promotion
in older adults (e.g., successful aging), working with ethnically diverse elders, intergenerational projects, custodial
grandparents, elderly inmates in prisons, and alcohol abuse among older adults. Dr. Kopera-Frye has been extensively
involved in grantsmanship, and has been trained federally as an evaluator by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA) and served as reviewer for the National Science Foundation. She is very active in the
Gerontological Society of America (GSA) and the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE). She received
AGHE Distinguished Teacher Award for her outstanding teaching utilizing service learning pedagogy and was awarded
Fellow status. As a member and Fellow of GSA Behavioral Social Science Section, she has been involved in GSA and AGHE
governance activities including being appointed to the AGHE Task Force on Accreditation of Gerontology, an invited
presenter at the AGHE Pre-Conference Teaching Institute, and a member of the AGHE Academic Program Development
Committee. She has published extensively and serves as reviewer for journals such as The Gerontologist. She has served
as a Member at Large on American Psychological Association Division 20: Division on Adult Development and Aging (APA
D20) most recently. Dr. Kopera-Frye noticed an absence of textbooks available to train our future professionals in
health literacy among elders; hence, the idea for this textbook was born.