Date of Award

Spring 5-2017

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Research and Administration

Committee Chair

Lilian Hill

Committee Chair Department

Educational Research and Administration

Committee Member 2

Thomas Lipscomb

Committee Member 2 Department

Educational Research and Administration

Committee Member 3

Richard Mohn

Committee Member 3 Department

Educational Research and Administration

Committee Member 4

Eric Platt

Committee Member 4 Department

Educational Research and Administration

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to determine if the health literacy level of older adults, age 65 and older, and the self-directed learning readiness score were correlated. After data cleaning, the number of cases was below the recommended rule of thumb. Deletion of cases indicated by the analyst of the self-directed learning readiness score (SDLRS-ABE), and imputation of missing data on the shortened test of functional health literacy (STOFHLA), limited the number of usable cases for analysis and presented a limitation to this study. A Pearson Correlation was then performed to determine any correlation between the scores on the STOFHLA and SDLRS-ABE. There were no significant findings. When analyzing the predictor variables with SDLRS-ABE scores, there were no significant findings. However, when taking the scores on the STOFHLA with the predictor variables, there was significance found between STOFHLA scores, education level, and age when taken together. Thus, analysis was focused on the significance of age and education level taken together on the health literacy level of the participants. Due to presence of outliers when checking for assumptions, transformation of the data was indicated. After the log 10 transformation of the data was performed, the assumptions of normality of residuals, homoscedasticity, and multicollinearity were met and the model was used for analysis. Multiple regression was performed to analyze the transformed data. Significant findings were found indicating that participants with a college degree have statistically significantly higher scores on log values of STOFHLA after transformation than a reference group of participants not having a high school degree, t(df) = -2.92, p = 0.005. At 10% significance, participants with some college had statistically significantly higher scores on log values of STOFHLA after transformation than a reference group of participants not having a high school degree, t(df) = -1.94, p = 0.056. Participants age 85 and older had statistically significantly lower scores on log values of STOFHLA after transformation than a reference group of participants age 65-74, t (df) = 2.95, p = 0.012.

ORCID ID

0000-0002-3478-8495

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