Investigating Health Literacy Level and Related Factors Among Adults in Qom

Health literacy (HL) is one of the main determinants of health behaviors. It is influenced by various individual and social factors. Inadequate health literacy is generally prevalent though its levels may vary among people in different societies.

This study aimed to investigate the health literacy level of adult people in Qom, Iran.

This cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2020 inQomto investigate the HL level among adult people. Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, the questionnaire was distributed using social media and small message service (SMS) to obtain the most heterogeneous sample possible. Then, a total of 488 individuals were recruited. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 22 and adopting a linear regression model to determine the factors influencing HL. P-values < 5% were considered statistically significant.

Results showed that inadequate, moderate, and adequate levels of HL among participants were 14.3%, 60.5%, and 25.2%, respectively. Gender and level of education were significantly associated with HL at a 95% confidence interval.

It was concluded that the majority of the study population enjoyed moderate and high HL levels. Due to the exclusion of illiterate individuals from this study, however, HL remained a challenge to adopting the health behaviors. Therefore, it was recommended that an effective training program should be developed and conducted to educate individuals with lower education levels and older people about HL.