[Health literacy in old age : Associations between educational processes, biography and environment]

Increasing loss of health in old age leads to particular challenges in this phase of life. In response to this, there are support services predominantly aimed at dealing with the resulting changes in living conditions; however, these mostly do not address the subjective view of individuals. With a biographically guided view of health literacy in old age, the article focuses on educational processes in the lives of older people regarding their health experience and actions and questions the environmental influences. The empirical data of the article are based on 12 qualitative interviews conducted with people aged 73-92 years. The analyses show that the two heuristics of biography and environment can be used to reconstruct relevant educational processes over the life span that shape health experience and action in old age. A definition of biographical health literacy derived from this and a model of health literacy in old age are presented. The article concludes with specific recommendations for action in the practice.