Social Health Status and Health Literacy in Non-Medical Students of Islamic Azad University

Social health refers to the evaluation and recognition of an individual's performance in society and the quality of his or her relationships with others, relatives, and social groups. On the other hand, health literacy enables people to play an active role in changing environments to influence health and it is considered a determinant of health. The present study was conducted to investigate the status of social health and health literacy in non-medical students. This study was conducted by survey method with descriptive-correlation approach on 200 non-medical students of Islamic Azad University, Rasht Branch in the academic year of 2018-2019. The subjects were selected by quota sampling. An adult health literacy questionnaire (HELIA) was used to collect information. The dimensions of access, reading skills, comprehension, evaluation, decision making and use of health information and Keyes social health questionnaire were analyzed using version 23 of SPSS software and analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation and chi-square test. The mean score of health literacy and social health was 120.38± 16.26 and 109.87± 11.09, respectively. The highest mean score (76.61) was related to comprehension and perception. The majority of people had adequate health literacy and their social health status was moderate. In social health components, the lowest score was obtained in the dimension of social participation and the highest was related to the dimension of social cohesion. There was no significant statistical correlation between students' health literacy and social health scores (p = 90.) In the present study, a significant percentage of students had inadequate health literacy levels. Also, the low dimensions of admission and social participation in students can affect their social and interpersonal relationships and also affect other aspects of their health.