Investigating health literacy and its Relationship with the Social Influences of COVID-19 in Police force employees

COVID-19 quickly spread worldwide, causing anxiety and fear among individuals and negatively impacting society. One key component for improving control over social factors is health literacy. This study aimed to investigate health literacy and its relationship with the social Influences of COVID-19 on Police force employees.

In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 300 employees of the Police force employees were included using the census sampling method. The data collection tool was a questionnaire consisting of demographic characteristics, a Health Literacy questionnaire (HELIA), and the social Influences of COVID-19(SIQ) in 2022. The collected data were analyzed using statistical tests including analysis of variance, Pearson correlation, and regression analysis. The data were analyzed with SPSS24 software at a significance level of 0.05.

The results of this study showed that the average health literacy score of Police force employees was 21.91 ± 68.11. In the division of health literacy, 32% had insufficient health literacy, 20.3% had sufficient health literacy, and 22.6% had excellent health literacy. Also, in the classification of the social Influences of COVID-19, 38% were found to have high social Influences, 3/38% had moderate effects, and 7/23% had low effects. Regression results showed a significant relationship between health literacy and the social Influences of COVID-19 (p <0.001). Health literacy can explain 64.0% of the variance of social Influences in Police force employees.

Given the importance of health literacy in preventing COVID-19 and its impact on the social Influences of COVID-19, it appears that educational programs aimed at increasing health literacy can be effective in addressing the social Influences of COVID-19.