Journal of Health Literacy
Volume:4 Issue: 4, 2020

Health Literacy is one of the most important determinants of health in the world that the educational system plays an important role in promoting it among students. The purpose of this study was to investigate the comparative status of health literacy in the educational system of Finland and Iran [curriculum, course books and, documents].

In the present study, the content analysis of documents was used. The data were collected by examining the documents related to the educational system of these two countries. To achieve the comparative purpose of the study, Beredy’s proposed was used. The collected data were first summarized in tables and then analyzed.

The results showed that in Finnish schools, health education is offered as a separate curriculum and the subject of health literacy is considered as a learning object. While in Iran, health literacy has not been independently addressed as a separate curriculum and has not been addressed in textbooks, although the overall topic of health and physical education has been emphasized in the documents of curricula. 

The results showed that despite the development of curriculum documentation and implementation of the health- promoting schools project in Iran, no curriculum specifically teaches health education and especially health literacy to students in programs and course books, although the health and physical education has been heavily emphasized in the curriculum document. While health literacy in Finnish schools and curricula has been emphasized and new reviews in the content of lessons are taking place every year.

Communication literacy has been identified as one of the essential literacies in UNESCO's definition of "the ability to communicate well with others and to know social practices"  The aim of study was identifying the main and secondary themes of communication literacy and potential indicators in order to improve it in educational system. The methodology was thematic analysis with pattern of Braun and Clarke (2006). The population was including scientific resources in the field of communication and communication specialists.  The sampling method for resources was purposive and most related to communication literacy and best communication specialists which continued till theoretical saturation (24 people). The findings showed main themes were “Sensational communication”, “Specialized communication” and “Communication levels”. The secondary themes for sensational communication were literacies in “Vision, hearing, smell, touch and taste”. The secondary themes for specialized communication were literacies in “Speaking, Writing, Reading, Body Language, Communication Technology, Intercultural Communication, Advertising, Corporate Communication, Public Relations, International Relations, Citizenship, Finance, Business, Emotional and Communication Research”. The secondary themes for communication levels were literacies in “Intrapersonal communication, Interpersonal communication, Group communication, Mass communication and Extra communication”. The speed of changes in communication showed these themes for communication literacy must reviewing in near times.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate of health literacy and some of its associated factors among 18-65 years old clients referred to dezful health and treatment centers, iran, 2018  

This is a descriptive-analytical study with a sample size of 1575 subjects which is conducted in 2018 on Dezful 18-65 years old people. In this study, Dezful municipality's three districts were considered as three clusters; then, two Health and Treatment Centers were selected by random assignment from each cluster, after that sampling was performed by simple random sampling on the target population. The data collection instrument in this study was Montazeri et al. Standard Health Literacy Questionnaire. SPSS 21 software and statistical methods of the correlation coefficient, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA were used to data analysis.

The mean age of the subjects was 32 ± 3 (Scores ranged from 18 to 65 years old) and the mean score of health literacy was 70.19 (Scores ranged from 1 to 100). The mean score of health literacy, in five dimensions, has been respectively (information accessibility) 67.26, (comprehension) 78.81, (information reading) 71.79, (evaluating information) 69.33, (decision making and behavior) 66.41. In rating health literacy, 13.07 percent had insufficient health literacy, 21.52 percent had not so much insufficient health literacy, 38.47 percent had sufficient health literacy, and 26.92 percent had higher health literacy. The results also showed that there is a significant relationship between health literacy, and background variables such as education level (x2=314.857,p=0.010), occupation (x2=73.290,p=0.001), marital status (x2=24.85,p=0.019), but this relationship was not significant in gender (x2=3.944,p=0.268).

The results of this study showed that 34.1% of the subjects had inadequate health literacy, which proper planning is needed to improve the health literacy level of the statistical universe in this study.

 Health literacy is considered by policymakers as one of the important issues for improving the Health of the community. On the other hand، quality of life and efforts to promote it pay a significant role in individual and social health. the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between Health literacy and quality of life in staff members of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences.

this cross-sectional study was carried out on all of 205 staff members of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences in2018. Using a census method، data were collected using HELIA and Life Quality Questionnaire (SF-12) and Health LITERACY Tool (HELIA). Then، using descriptive statics and Pearson correlation test، they were analyzed using spss version 21 software.

The results of this study showed that the average health literacy rate of the subjects was 130.16+ 17.16 and the quality of life mean score was 87.21+15.2 the most frequent source of information was healthcare professionals ، doctors and Internet .The analytical results of the study showed that there is no statistically significant relationship between gender ، age ، work experience and marital status with health literacy and quality of life) p>0.05(. But there was a significant relationship between education Level and health literacy and quality of life (p=0.001). There is also a significant relationship between the level of health and the quality of life. (p<0.0001)

Regarding the relationship between health literacy and quality of life dimensions، it is necessary to pay more attention to improving the health literacy of individuals (especially adults with inadequate literacy) in quality improvement programmers.

Health literacy is a global factor in determining the level of social literacy of persons in the individual and social health. To improve health in a community, it is essential which measuring and identifying effective factors on the health literacy. The purpose of this study was to identify and determine the factors affecting the level of health literacy using a meta-heuristic algorithm.  

In this paper, a hybrid model has been introduced which benefit of bat optimization algorithm and machine learning algorithms to determine the major factors on health literacy level. In our model, the support vector machine algorithm and K-nearest neighbor are used to classify the data. The data set has been extracted from a descriptive-analytic study that was performed on 2133 samples to measure adults' health in South Khorasan Province in 2016.

In this study, the combination of bat optimization algorithm and K-nearest neighbor with 93.76% accuracy and 95.47% precision has been able to identify effective factors on health literacy. Combined bat optimization algorithm and support vector machine have been obtained with 96.25 percent accuracy and 97.99 percent precision. Analytical results show that two areas: access to the resources and use of resources are impressive in the low level of health literacy in South Khorasan province are effective.

Considering the performance of the intelligent proposed model show this tool can be used to analyze health literacy data. This model does not require statistical analysis, and can provide high-quality results quickly.

Health literacy is one of the major determinants of health. Demonstrates cognitive and social skills that determine individuals' motivation and ability to acquire, access, and understand ways to use information to maintain and promote health. This study aimed to examine health literacy and its relationship with self-efficacy in health ambassadors. Orumiyeh is done.  

In this descriptive-analytical study, 200 health ambassadors of Urmia city were selected by cluster random sampling method. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, Health Literacy Questionnaire (HELIA) and General Self-efficacy Questionnaire (Sherer). Data were analyzed by SPSS 20 software using ANOVA and regression tests.  

The results of this study showed that 21.5% of health ambassadors had inadequate health literacy, 30% had insufficient health, 23% had insufficient health and 25.5% had excellent health. Also, health literacy with variables of age, gender, education level Jobs had a significant relationship. Results showed that there was a significant relationship between health literacy and self-efficacy of health ambassadors (p <0/001). So that health literacy can explain 0.62 variance of self-efficacy of health ambassadors.  

Given the importance of health literacy in health ambassadors and the effect that self-efficacy has on health literacy, the need for interventions by health care providers to increase self-efficacy and health literacy is essential for adopting health behaviors in health ambassadors.

The purpose of this study was to examine the health literacy of Kerman province educational staff due to the significant influence of teachers on the level of education in society.   In this descriptive cross-sectional study, the research population included Kerman ministry of education teachers who were selected using sample size formula of Cochran and with a confidence level of 95%. Three hundred seventy-eight subjects were selected using available sampling method. The Health Literacy for Iranian Adults (HELIA) which has been confirmed in other studies regarding its validity and reliability was used. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and SPSS software.   Most of the study sample included women (85%) with a bachelor's degree (52%). Most participants acquired the required information through the healthcare staff (26%) and internet (21%). The level of health literacy in reading skills was not sufficient (59.9%), access to information (76.4%) was sufficient, insight and understanding (65%) was not sufficient, information evaluation (46.5%) was insufficient and decision making (63.2%) was not sufficient. On the whole, the level of literacy of the sample was average (61.3%) which was not sufficient.   Low level of health literacy is one of the main problems of community health. Meanwhile, due to the critical role of teachers in the growth of the community, improving the level of health literacy of this stratum is important. Therefore, empowering teachers and designing programs appropriate to health-related variables is essential and it is necessary to design and use sectors, such as educational centers, medical science and media universities, comprehensive educational programs and educational materials.