Ear and Hearing-related Health Literacy Status of Iranian Adolescent and Young People: A National Study

Health literacy refers to abilities of individuals, communities and groups to obtain, understand, and use the basic necessary information and services to improve, maintain and promote health. This study aimed to determine the status of ear and hearing- related health literacy in adolescents and young adults.

Given the lack of specific tools for measuring the ear and hearing- related health literacy, an appropriate tool was developed. The validity of the tool was confirmed by a survey of experts and calculating the content validity rate and index. Internal correlation of questionnaire was confirmed using Cronbach's alpha; and the reliability of questionnaire was approved by a test-retest method. After the tool finalization, the ear and hearing- related health literacy was measured in 4890 Iranian young adults and adolescents.

In the selected sample, 45.9% were male and 54.1% were female, and the mean and standard deviation of participants' age were 17± 3. The mean score of ear and hearing- related health literacy was 30.81 ± 3.75. The ear and hearing- related health literacy was adequate in 2.8% of samples and inadequate in 97.2%. There were significant statistical differences in the status of ear and hearing- related health literacy in people with different age, gender, number of study years, occupation, marital status, and income.

There were low general levels of ear and hearing- related health literacy as well as skills of searching, understanding, evaluating and using health information and services in Iranian adolescents and young adults.