Relationship of Health Literacy and Quality of Life in Adults Residing in Karaj, Iran

Abstract

Background and Objective: Health literacy as one of the most important issues for promoting public health has gained the attention of policy makers. The quality of life and striving to promote it play an important role in individual and social health. Due to the role of adults as a productive group in the community, we aimed to determine the relationship between health literacy and quality of life in adults. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 256 adults aged 18 to 65 years in Karaj, Iran, 2016. The participants were selected using the convenience sampling method. Data were collected using the Health Literacy Inventory for Adults (HELIA) and the Quality of Life questionnaire (SF-12). Then, the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation coefficient in SPSS, version 21. Results: In this study, 24.2% (n=62) of the participants had inadequate health literacy and 23.4% (n=60) had relatively adequate health literacy. The mean±SD scores of quality of life in the physical health and mental health domains, as well as the overall quality of life were 16.24±2.68, 20.43±3.89, and 36.68±5.82 out of 48, respectively. Health literacy had a significant positive correlation with physical and mental dimensions of quality of life and overall quality of life (P<0.05). Conclusion: Regarding the relationship between health literacy and dimensions of quality of life, it seems necessary to focus more attention on improving people's health literacy, especially adults with inadequate health literacy, in quality of life promotion programs.

Keywords

• Adults
• Health Literacy
• Quality of Life
• SF-12