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.

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Background: The rate of cigarette smoking has increased among students. Smoking prevention behavior has significant relationship with health literacy. Moreover, health literacy has potential effects on the constructs of the Health Belief Model (HBM). Objectives: This study aimed to determine the predictors of health literacy based on HBM constructs for smoking prevention among university students. Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted in 2016 on 337 dormitory students recruited through one-stage cluster sampling from ShahidBeheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Data were collected using the Health Literacy for Iranian Adults scale as well as a researcher-made questionnaire on students' perceptions about smoking prevention developed based on HBM constructs. Chi-square test, Pearson correlation test, and multiple linear regression analysiswere used. SPSS software (v. 16.0) was used to analyze the data. Results: Health literacy had significant relationships with cigarette smoking and all HBM constructs (P < 0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that the perceived susceptibility, perceived benefits, and self-efficacy constructs of HBM significantly predicted 32.9% of the total variance of health literacy(P < 0.05). Conclusions: Health literacy is significantly related with cigarette smoking. Moreover, the significant predictors of health literacy based on HBM constructs for smoking prevention are perceived susceptibility, perceived benefits, and self-efficacy. Therefore, educational programs based on these HBM constructs can be used as an appropriate framework for developing strategies to promote health literacy and prevent cigarette smoking.