Health Literacy and Personality Traits in Two Types of Family Structure—A Cross-Sectional Study in China

Limited health literacy is a serious public health problem. It is strongly associated with increased hospital admissions and readmission, poorer self-management, and health outcomes. It can lead to poor management of chronic disease, lower health care quality, increased mortality, and higher healthcare expenditures. Understanding China's current situation and the progress of health literacy levels are critical to achieving practical solutions for improving population health. This paper intended to provide a concise overview of the key milestones and specific practices in health literacy in China. We summarized the characteristics and changing profile of health literacy from 2008 to 2020 in China. We developed an intervention framework based on social ecosystem theory for improving health literacy in China. Meanwhile, some multi-level actionable recommendations were proposed. The study revealed that China has made progress in improving health literacy in the last decades. Health literacy levels increased from 6.48% of the population in 2008 to 23.15% in 2020. Geographic disparities were substantial. The East performed better health literacy than the Central and West, and cities had higher adequate health literacy than rural areas. Social development index, age, and education level were highly associated with health literacy. A global joint effort to improve health literacy will be required. And we advocate a whole-of-society approach that involves the participation of the entire ecosystem around the targeted population.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The development and progress of health literacy in China

Lv²,

Liang

et al. 2022

“…Therefore, desirability respondents would have higher compliance and be more likely to practice emergency prevention measures such as preparing a first-aid kit as recommended by the government and other authorities. Personality traits may influence health literacy ( 56 ), Mai et al ( 57 ) explored the relationship between Big Five personality and health literacy and found that openness had the highest correlation with health literacy. In this study, the high openness group of Big Five personality was more willing to prepare a home first-aid kit than the group with a low degree of openness.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The current status and factors related to the preparation of home first-aid kits in China

Zhang

Lyu

et al. 2022

BackgroundHome first-aid kits can play an important role when residents are injured, suddenly become seriously ill or suffer from disasters.PurposeTo explore the home first-aid kit preparedness of Chinese residents and the relationship between demographic sociological characteristics, self-efficacy, Big Five personality, health literacy and home first-aid kit preparation behavior.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted. Information was collected through a self-designed questionnaire consisting of sociological characteristics, the New General Self-Efficacy Scale (NGSES), the Health Literacy Scale Short-Form (HLS-SF12), and the 10-item short version of Big Five Inventory (BFI-10). Rank sum test, Chi-square test, and logistic regression were used to explore the relationship between independent variables and home first-aid kit preparation behavior.ResultsA total of 9,344 respondents were included, and 2,156 (23.07%) prepared home first-aid kits. Among the respondents who had prepared their home first-aid kits, disinfection supplies (85.20%), medical masks (84.51%), commonly used drugs (82.79%) were the most frequently available. The respondents whose geographic area was Central and Western China, permanent residence in the urban area, secondary education or above, monthly income of 3,000 RMB or above, health care cost-bearing method mainly resident health insurance, high subgroup of self-efficacy, high subgroup of health care dimension in health literacy, and whose openness and conscientiousness was high subgroup were more likely to prepare home first-aid kits (P < 0.05).ConclusionThe preparation rate for home first-aid kits in China is less than a quarter. The public's home first-aid kit preparation behavior is related to demographic characteristics, self-efficacy, health literacy, and the openness of the Big Five personality. A multi-level linked national emergency literacy education system should be established to enhance the residents' attention to home first-aid kits and improve the residents' ability to prevent emergencies.

“…In this study, the Cronbach's alpha of the short version of the health literacy scale was 0.940, and the Cronbach's alphas of the three subscales of health care, disease prevention, and health promotion were, respectively, 0.856, 0.860, and 0.868, all with good reliability. With reference to relevant literature, this study divided the respondents into two groups based on their health literacy: high group (above 33 points) and low group (33 points and below) ( 40 , 42 , 43 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-medication in Chinese residents and the related factors of whether or not they would take suggestions from medical staff as an important consideration during self-medication

Li²,

Dong³

et al. 2022

ObjectiveTo investigate the status of Chinese residents' self-medication behavior and the important factors to consider when purchasing OTC drugs, and to explore the related factors of the possibility that Chinese residents take medical staff's suggestions as important factors to consider when purchasing OTC drugs.Study designA cross-sectional survey.MethodsA questionnaire was developed for exploring the sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents, their self-medication status, and important considerations. The questionnaire includes several scales including Health Literacy Scale-Short Form (HLS-SF), EQ-5D Visual Analog Scale (EQ-5D-VAS), Big Five Inventary-10 Items (BFI-10), and New General Self Efficacy Scale (NGSES). After carrying out a multi-stage sampling method, the questionnaire was conducted nationwide from July 10 to September 15, 2021. Next, descriptive statistics were conducted to analyze the general features. Logistic regression was then used to analyze the related factors of the possibility that the respondents took the suggestions of medical staff as an important consideration when purchasing OTC drugs.ResultsNine thousand two hundred fifty-six qualified questionnaires were received. 99.06% of Chinese adults had self-medication behaviors. The types of OTC drugs purchased most by the respondents were NSAIDs (5,421/9,256 people, 58.57%) and vitamins/minerals (4,851/9,256 people, 52.41%). 86.2% of the respondents took the suggestions of medical staff as an important consideration when purchasing OTC drugs. The results of multi-factor logistic regression showed that women, those living in the central and western regions of China, those suffering from chronic diseases, those with high agreeableness, high conscientiousness, high neuroticism and openness, high health literacy, high EQ-5D-VAS, and those with high self-efficacy are more likely to take medical staff's suggestions as important factors to consider.ConclusionThe vast majority of Chinese adults have self-medication behavior. Important considerations when purchasing OTC drugs include medical staff's suggestions, drug safety and drug efficacy. Whether residents take the suggestions of medical staff as an important consideration is related to their sociological characteristics, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness, health literacy, self-assessment health status, and self-efficacy. When purchasing and using OTC drugs, residents should carefully listen to the suggestions from medical staff. They should also carefully consider their own conditions before buying OTC drugs.