Adult Functional Health Literacy and its Related Factors: A Cross-Sectional Study

Health literacy (HL) can affect individual health, health communication anderror in taking medicine. The aim of this study was to determine the level of HL and associated factorsamong Iranian adults. In this cross-sectional study, 240 participants over 18 years of age referring to health centersin Hamadan, west of Iran in 2015 were selected by multistage random sampling. HL was assessedby the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA). The questionnaire was completed by atrained interviewer. The independent variables were structural and intermediate social factors basedon the Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH). Data were analyzed by using IBM SPSSversion 22. Average age of the participants was 30.88 ±7.38 years and 75.4% of the them were female. Thetotal score of HL was 64.58 ±16.71 (range: 23.82-98.98). Overall, 31.7% (n = 76) of the participantshad adequate HL level, 32.5% (n = 78) had borderline HL level and 35.8% (n = 86) had inadequateHL level. Additionally, participants with higher educational levels had higher HL scores than thosewith lower educational levels (P < 0.001). HL score was significantly higher in males than in females(P = 0.017). HL level seems to be inadequate among Iranian adults in the west of Iran. Moreover,enhancing social determinants such as educational level seems to increase HL. The results highlightedthe necessity for change and improvement in adults’ HL.