Background
The number of homeless veterans is increasing at a significant rate in the United States. That has raised a fundamental concept on matters of health with the focus being towards understanding how these veterans would be able to access quality health care services. One of the critical area of focus that health professionals have sought to underlying is promoting health literacy as a way of ensuring that these veterans have a clear understanding of their varied health needs. Health literacy is one of the critical aspects that promote effective health outcomes for veterans attributed to the high demands for a wide array of healthcare services (Sleath et al., 2006). Lack of a proper platform from which to promote health literacy among homeless veterans has created a situation where the health decisions made do not seem to cover the varied health demands for this population (Elbogen, Sullivan, Wolfe, Wagner, & Beckham, 2013). Thus, this creates the need for having to come up with an approach from which to improve health literacy as a way of advancing proper health outcomes.
Problem Statement
Health literacy seeks to create an avenue from which individuals can gain a clear understanding of a wide variety of health information that would allow them to make necessary decisions. For a majority of the homeless veterans, the primary challenge experience is on the lack of productive avenues from which to access health information that would allow them to make decisions touching on their health outcomes (Sharit, Lisigurski, Andrade, Karanam, Nazi, Lewis, & Ruiz, 2014). Thus, this creates a situation where the homeless veterans face a significant risk from a health perspective, which can be traced back to a significant lack of access to health information attributed to their homeless status.
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Purpose
The purpose of this research study is to examine the impacts that lack of proper health literacy is having on the homeless veterans. The study seeks to investigate how homeless veterans are facing a wide array of health risks, which can be attributed to the significant lack of access to avenues allowing them to access quality health information. The study will also seek to examine some of the critical areas where health professionals ought to consider in a bid to advancing health literacy for the homeless population in the country. The study will focus on evaluating some of the critical factors of consideration towards promoting health literacy among homeless veterans with the focus being towards creating that avenue from which to improve on the health for this population.
Contribution to Knowledge
The study will contribute to knowledge by examining matters associated with health associated with homeless veterans, who face a significant challenge in accessing quality health care services matching their respective needs. The study seeks to examine how the barrier related to health literacy has contributed to a non-effective avenue from which to deliver on set out health goals. On the other hand, the study seeks to provide valid recommendations on how health professionals would be able to improve on the health outcomes associated with homeless veterans as a way of ensuring that this population achieves set health goals.
Research Questions
The following are the research questions that will govern this study.
To what extent does lack health literacy impact the homeless veterans?
What are some of the critical factors that would help improve health literacy among the homeless veterans?
Theoretical or Conceptual Framework
To help in answering the research questions, the study will adopt several important theories, which would seek to examine some of the key factors defining health outcomes among homeless veterans. The theories will help understand the extent to which health literacy has impacted on health outcomes for this particular population.
References
Elbogen, E. B., Sullivan, C. P., Wolfe, J., Wagner, H. R., & Beckham, J. C. (2013). Homelessness and money mismanagement in Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. American journal of public health , 103 (S2), S248-S254.
Sharit, J., Lisigurski, M., Andrade, A. D., Karanam, C., Nazi, K. M., Lewis, J. R., & Ruiz, J. G. (2014). The roles of health literacy, numeracy, and graph literacy on the usability of the VA's health record by veterans. Journal of Usability Studies , 9 (4), 173-193.
Sleath, B. L., Jackson, E., Thomas, K. C., Galloway, J., Dumain, L., Thorpe, J., ... & Morrissey, J. (2006). Literacy and perceived barriers to medication taking among homeless mothers and their children. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy , 63 (4), 346-351.
