Study of Health Literacy and Its Related Factors in Torbat Heydarieh Students of Medical Sciences in 2019

Health literacy represents cognitive and social skills that determine the motivation and ability of individuals to acquire, access and understand the methods of using information to maintain and improve their health. Regarding the effect of medical education students' health literacy on improving health literacy and community health promotion, this study aimed to determine the level of health literacy and its related factors in Torbat Heydarieh medical students in 2019.

This cross-sectional study was conducted with a descriptive-analytic approach in 2019 among 201 students of Torbat-e-Heidarieh University of Medical Sciences who were selected by multi-stage sampling. Data were collected using a two-part questionnaire: demographic information and HELIA (Health Literacy for Iranian Adult). Then the data was analyzed using the spss software version 20, using descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis.

In this study, 201 students (87.1%) were girls. The mean age of students was 21.50 ± 1.3 years. In examining the levels of health literacy, 9.5% of the students had low health literacy and 35.8% had inadequate and 42.8% had adequate and 11.9% had high health literacy level. The results of multivariate linear regression show that there is only a statistically significant relationship between the mean score and the term of education with the health literacy scores (p <0.05).

Considering the large number of students with inadequate and borderline health literacy, it is recommended that planners and policymakers increase the health literacy of medical students who promote the culture of health literacy in the community by providing a suitable educational environment and content. Also, using social media and new educational methods is recommended in this regard.