Journal of Health Literacy
Volume:8 Issue: 4, Winter 2024

Health literacy is a key factor underpinning health behaviours and effective use of health information. Optimising health literacy in adolescents and young adults (AYA) is critical as they transition from childhood to adulthood, changing health-related behaviours alongside physical, emotional, and cognitive change. In South African AYA, with unplanned pregnancy common, poor health literacy may impact multiple generations. Our aim was to explore health perceptions and priorities of South African AYA to inform contextually relevant health literacy intervention design.   Through purposive sampling of youth registered at a youth development centre in Soweto, South Africa, AYA (n=39, 18-25y) were recruited to form an advisory Youth Health Council (YHC). Health literacy was assessed with the Health Literacy Test for Limited Literacy populations (HELT-LL). Focus group discussions were recorded for inductive thematic analysis to inform AYA health literacy needs.  Most AYA (85%) had suboptimal health literacy. Analysis showed that AYA perceived ‘health’ as a complex mix of indicators (physical, emotional, mental, spiritual) that formed a holistic view of health. However, lack of funds and factors inherent in their local environment (food systems, family hierarchy, crime, vandalism, limited healthcare services) frequently challenged beneficial health behaviours. Stress was a common feature in the lives of AYA associated with multiple health domains.  Stress-focused health literacy interventions are needed for youth in challenging environments. Understanding the complex constructions and the core tenets of health that young people hold can inform contextually relevant intervention co-creation for improved health literacy as youth transition into adulthood.

In the Covid 19 pandemic, determining the vaccine literacy of individuals whose vaccination process has not been completed and ensuring that they are vaccinated shows the importance of this study. This study was carried out between 1 January and 31 March 2022.This study was conducted to determine the vaccine literacy level of individuals whose Covid-19 vaccines were not completed during the Covid-19 pandemic process and to apply Covid-19 vaccines. This study is descriptive and cross-sectional study. The population of the study consisted of individuals over the age of 18 who did not complete their Covid-19 vaccines and lived in a town in the west of Turkey. After the power analysis was conducted, the sample consisted of 923 people who agreed to participate in the research. The information form and the Covid-19 Vaccine Literacy Scale were used as data collection tools. The Independent Sample t-test was used to compare the Covid-19 vaccine literacy and sub-dimension scores with personal information; one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare educational status and income levels; the Tukey HSD test was used as post-hoc test; and the Pearson Correlation analysis was used to correlate the continuous variables with each other. The mean score of the Covid-19 Vaccine Literacy Scale was found to be above average, and the mean score of the subdimensions communicative/critical and functional skills was found to be moderate. It was found that the participants’ Covid 19 vaccine literacy was associated with marital status, education levels, income level, having the Covid-19 disease, and having previously been vaccinated against Covid-19. As a result of the research conducted between January 1, 2022 and March 31, 2022, 923 volunteer participants were vaccinated against Covid-19. The first dose of Covid-19 vaccine was administered to 82 people out of 923 who had never been vaccinated. A second dose of Covid-19 vaccine was administered to 178 people, a third dose of Covid-19 vaccine to 311 people, a fourth dose of Covid-19 vaccine to 271 people, and a fifth dose of Covid-19 vaccine to 81 people. An important vaccination program was carried out, and this result is the most important success of our study. It was found that there was a relationship between the Covid-19 vaccine literacy levels and the Covid-19 vaccination, marital status, education level, income status and Covid-19 disease status of the individuals participating in the study. The Covid-19 vaccine literacy score of the participants was above the medium level, and the sub-dimension scores of the participants were moderate. In total, 923 volunteer participants were vaccinated against Covid-19, and 82 people who had never been vaccinated were given the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine.

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.

Reproductive health is gentlydecreasing because of  multiples exogenous and endogenous factors, such as diet, behavior and environmental contaminants.Since nutritional behaviors are a required part of a healthy lifestyle, therefore, this study aimed to find out the relationship between health literacy, lifestyle in infertile males and females in Zahedan, Iran. The present descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 86 men and 181 women who referred to Infertility center(Ali Ibn Abi Talibmolod Hospital)  in Zahedan through random selection method. To collect data Health literacy standard questionnaires (HELIA), Miller-Smith lifestyle assessment inventory(LSI)were used. Collected data were analyzed by SPSS v.22 software. There was Statistically significant relationshipbetween health literacyand Lifestyle (r = 0.326 p<0.001)as well as both of them withsome nutritional behaviors(p ≤ 0.05).People with higher levels of health literacy had better lifestyle and healthy nutritional behaviors. The results showed that health literacy had a significant association withLifestyle.It is necessary to design and implement appropriate educational interventions to improve nutrition knowledge and promote healthy fertility as one of the important priorities of the society.

Efforts to reveal the factors that drive health literacy toward eradicating stigma in people with HIV/AIDS are significant. This study aimed to identify and extract the factors that promote health literacy in eliminating HIV stigma in society.  The scoping reviews study was used to map out the evidence for recommendations based on PRISMA-ScR. Systematically search through Scopus, Web of Science (WOS), CINAHL via EBSCOhost, and SpringerLink to find articles published during 2017-2022. Studies were selected based on inclusion criteria, focusing on factors that mediate health literacy in eradicating HIV/AIDS stigma.  Twenty-eight articles met the criteria and were used in the review. After reviewing the articles, the factors that promote health literacy in eradicating HIV stigma in society were divided into three main dimensions: personal characteristics, societal and environmental factors, and situational factors regarding the disease, with 16 component factors.  Health literacy impacts reducing social stigma against people with HIV in society. Factors influencing health literacy must be considered to optimize social stigma reduction. The factors mentioned comprise individual traits, knowledge, motivation, social support, information media, awareness of the disease, fear of HIV transmission, perception of the disease, and personal beliefs about HIV disease. Health professionals could use this evidence to promote health literacy to address the social stigma against people living with HIV based on the factors related to health literacy.

Oral health literacy (OHL) is an important issue that directly and indirectly affects a person's general health. Inadequate OHL increases poor health outcomes and higher health care costs. This systematic review aimed to explore existing evidence of OHL levels in the Iranian population using a systematic review method. 

A systematic review was performed following the principles of PRISMA. The main databases including PubMed, SID, Magiran, and Google Scholar databases were searched with the keyword OHL and its Persian equivalents, without restrictions in publication time. Only descriptive studies that have reported any consequences of OHL in the adult Iranian population (18 years and above) were selected, and articles published in languages other than English and Persian and without access to the full text of the articles were excluded. Finally, the New Castle-Ottawa Quality Assessment scale was used to measure the quality of the studies.

Of the 724 retrieved studies, 68 studies met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed. Nine of the included studies evaluated the state of OHL. Most studies reported gender and education level to be associated with higher OHL. The literature was inconclusive regarding the association between OHL and dental treatment outcomes and oral health perceptions. Meta-analysis was not performed due to the limited data obtained in this review.

Evidence shows that OHL in the Iranian population is limited, and warranted the need for high-quality and intervention research by using different standard tools. Also, this review highlights special attention to the sub-groups within the population in oral health education.

Nutrition literacy is a modifiable lifestyle risk factor, and addressing literacy-related barriers may help improve health outcomes, including quality of life. This cross-sectional and descriptive study examines the relationship between Turkish adults nutrition literacy and quality of life.  We conducted online surveys with volunteers aged 18-65 with a minimum primary school education who provided consent. We used the evaluation Instrument of Nutrition Literacy (EINLA) scale to evaluate the nutritional literacy level of the participants and the 36-item short-form health survey questionnaire (SF-36) to evaluate the quality of life. SPSS v25.0 (IBM Corp., NY, USA) was used for the statistical analysis of the data. Participants (n=1379) had a mean age of 33.89 (sd:13.11) years; 1001 (73%) were female, 776 (55%)were single, 822 (59.6%) were college graduates, 366 (26.5%)were overweight, 164 (11.9%) obese, and 177(12.8%)lived alone. There was a statistically significant correlation between the total nutrition literacy scores of the participants and their general health (r=0.220), physical function (r=0.351), physical role difficulty (r=0.088), function (r=0.253), pain (r=0.154) and mental health (r=0.213) (p<0.001). Except for the emotional role difficulty (p=0.128) and vitality (p=0.191) sub-dimensions of SF-36, there was a statistically significant correlation between the nutrition literacy level of the participants and their quality-of-life p<0.05 and p<0.001.  Based on these results, as participants' nutritional literacy level increases, their quality of life improves. Therefore, this study confirms that improving nutrition literacy may positively affect the quality of life. Further research, however, needs to be undertaken to substantiate this conclusion with heterogeneous samples.

One third of U.S. adults struggle to understand health related information. To enhance patient understanding and outcomes, resident physicians must adapt communications to the patient’s health literacy level. These communications are particularly important when treating the patient for diabetes that requires intensive self-management.  The present study examined diverse patients’ perceptions of resident physicians’ communications after resident health literacy communication training.  We examined the association between patient perceptions of resident physician’s communications and diabetes control in a cross-sectional, correlational study in a convenience sample or patients with diabetes who consented to the survey within a month of clinic visits. After resident physician training, 160 Medicaid managed care adults seen at a Federally Qualified Health Center for type 2 diabetes were invited to complete a one-page survey on patient-provider communications (i.e., empathy, health literacy from Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems), treatment understanding, and diabetes control in 2018. Clinic staff recorded HbA1c upon survey completion with no patient identifiers and data were analyzed with logistic regression.   Non-Latino White and English-speaking Latino American patients rated resident physicians higher in empathy and health literate communications than Spanish-speaking Latino Americans. Patient perceptions of resident physician empathy and health literate communications were associated with diabetes treatment plan confidence. Patient perceptions of resident physician empathy were associated with diabetes control.   Empathetic resident physician communications consistent with health literacy levels may improve patients’ understanding of the self-management required for diabetes control. Investing in training programs that target physician communication skills that are empathic and consistent with the patient’s health literacy may improve diabetes control by encouraging dialogue and shared decision making about the treatment plan.