Health literacy and associated factors among undergraduate health sciences students in western Nepal: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Despite the importance of health literacy for health promotion, Nepalese undergraduate students are largely unaware of its importance. The present study assessed the health literacy levels of undergraduate health sciences students and explored various sociodemographic, clinical and health information-related factors associated with health literacy at Pokhara University in the Kaski district of western Nepal. A cross-sectional web-based observational study was conducted among 406 undergraduate students university students from five faculties at the School of Health and Allied Sciences affiliated with Pokhara University. Data on sociodemographic information, clinical characteristics and sources of health information were collected. Health literacy was assessed using the 44-item measure that captures the concept of health literacy across nine distinct domains. Associated factors were examined using a one-way analysis of variance followed by stepwise backward multiple linear regression analysis at the level of significance of 0.05. The mean score for the health literacy questionnaire was 3.13 ± 0.26. Outcomes of multivariable analyses demonstrated various factors associated with health literacy scores, including age (β = 0.10; p = 0.001), physical exercise (β = −0.13; p < 0.001), monthly household income (β = 0.05; p = 0.029) and routine health checkup (β = −0.14; p < 0.001). The study showed that there is a need to understand and address sociodemographic factors and clinical factors, including age, physical exercise, monthly household income and routine health checkups to improve health literacy levels among undergraduate students in western Nepal. More research, including longitudinal studies, is needed to better understand factors that influence health literacy among undergraduate students in Nepal.

Health literacy of Brazilian undergraduate students: a cluster analysis

“…Therefore, it is understood that the higher a country's HDI, the better its gross per capita income, the better its access to and conditions of health and longevity, and the better the quality and guarantee of education, conditions recognized in the literature as intrinsic to HL results. 25,26,31 Corroborating this analysis, we can also observe that when we compare the results of this study with those carried out in countries with an equivalent HDI classi cation and socio-economic characteristics similar to the Brazilian scenario, such as China 26 , Jordan 32 , Nepal 33 , and Palestine 34 , we see, within their particularities, similar levels of HL in the nine scales.…”

“…29 In the study carried out in Chongqing, China, with health students, scale 1 was the lowest and scale 9 the highest. 26 Research carried out in Jordan 32 and Nepal 33 , with the same pro le of students, similarly identi ed lower scores for scales 1 and 6, respectively.…”