Subjective Commentary of Health Literacy through Social Networks for Civil Servants’ Pension Fund Beneficiaries: A Qualitative Study

Background and Objectives: Elderly people need to pay more attention to promoting health promotion and improving quality of life in comparison with other people. On the other hand, the interest and desire to work with the Internet and social networks of internet plays an indelible role in improving the health literacy of the community. This study was carried out with the aim of evaluation the subjective explanation of health literacy through social networks for retired of fund beneficiaries.

Material and Methods: The present study is a phenomenological study with emphasis on Van Mennen's perspective to discover the experiences of retirees from the phenomenon of health literacy through social networks. The data were collected through a deep interview. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 retirees of the State Pension Fund in Tehran in 2020 using purposive sampling. All interviews were recorded and implemented and the theme analysis method was used to analyze the interviews.

Results: Data analysis resulted in the extraction of 71 primary codes and 33 sub-themes, which was classified in four main themes of experience in the field of "access to health information", experience in the field of "understanding health information" "Experience in the field of" health information evaluation ", experience in the field of" application of health information ".

Conclusion: Retirees, who make a large part of the country's elderly population, are embedded in social networks, and all organizations that play a role in the health and education of retirees can create rich educational content and using Simple, understandable multimedia content by social networks as well as the introduction of networks with reliable information for retirees, to improve the level of health literacy and increase useful health information for them, which is an effective factor in maintaining health and increasing the quality of life.