تحقیقات سلامت در جامعه (Sep 2017)
Evaluation of Health Literacy Level among 18-65 Year-Old Adults in Shahriar, Iran
Abstract
Introduction and purpose: Health literacy (HL) is a relatively new emerging concept in public health, which is the capacity of Individuals to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make proper health decisions. This study aimed to assess the level of health literacy among the individuals aged between 18 and 65 years old in Shahriar, Iran. Methods: This analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on 299 participants aged from 18 to 65 years old in 10 city neighborhoods of Shahriar, Iran, during 2015. Data were collected using Iranian Health Literacy Questionnaire and analyzed by one-way analysis of variance in SPSS, version 21. Results: In this study, the mean HL level was 58.26±22.1. The mean levels of HL dimensions were 61.14, 66.74, 62.87, 54.68, and 45.87 for accessing to health information, understanding the information, information reading skills, analyzing the information, and decision making based on the information, respectively. Given the results, 36.5%, 23.7%, 25.4%, and 14.4% of the participants had low, inadequate, adequate, and high levels of HL. Additionally, there was a significant relationship between age, educational stage, and occupation and the level of fivedimensional HL (P<0.001). Conclusion: About 60% of the subjects had low and inadequate levels of HL; therefore, it is recommended to design a program based on demographic variables to promote HL among people in the society.
