Health literacy in a population-based sample of Australian women: a cross-sectional profile of the Geelong Osteoporosis Study

Abstract

BackgroundThe term health literacy refers to the abilities and resources required to find, understand and use health information in managing health. This definition is reflected in the recent development of multidimensional health literacy tools that measure multiple facets of health literacy. The aim of this study was to determine the health literacy profile of a randomly selected, population-based sample of Australian women using a multidimensional tool, the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ). A second aim was to investigate associations between independent HLQ scales, sociodemographic characteristics and lifestyle and anthropometric risk factors for chronic disease.MethodsWe surveyed women involved in the Geelong Osteoporosis Study (GOS), a longitudinal, population-based study. We included demographic data, lifestyle information and anthropometric measures as well as the HLQ. The HLQ has 44 items, scored on either 4- or 5-point scales, within nine conceptually distinct scales. Means for each scale were calculated, and HLQ scales were regressed on educational level and socioeconomic status. Risk factors for chronic disease were investigated using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and calculation of effect sizes.ResultsHigher mean scores were seen for the scales ‘Feeling understood and supported by healthcare professionals’ (mean 3.20, ± SD 0.52) and ‘Understanding health information well enough to know what to do’ (mean 4.28, ±SD 0.54), and lower mean scores were seen for ‘Appraisal of health information’ (mean 2.81, ±SD 0.48) and ‘Navigating the healthcare system’ (mean 4.09, ± SD 0.57). Associations were also seen between lower HLQ scores and poor health behaviours including smoking and being more sedentary, in addition to greater body mass index and waist circumference. Positive gradients were seen between several HLQ scales and education level, as well as SES. For some HLQ scales, these associations were non-linear.ConclusionsThe profile of this population-based cohort of women demonstrated associations between low health literacy and low SES, lower levels of education, increasing age, and anthropometric and lifestyle risk factors for chronic disease. These findings suggest implications of health literacy for health policy makers focusing on improving lifestyle prevention of chronic disease and promoting health equity at a population level.

Gender-based Inequalities in Health literacy among an Iranian Kurd Population: Results of a Community Survey

“…Our study indicated that lower income was associated with poorer FHL. These results are consistent with previous research which established a relationship between low HL and income inequalities [3,32]. Previous studies have also shown that lower income may negatively affect HL and thus increase the risk of poor health outcomes [5].…”

“…HL has been considered as a determinant of health in clinical settings, public health, and contemporary society [2]. Addressing HL barriers has been highlighted as a population level strategy for health promotion [3,4]. Low HL among individuals, patients and the wider community is contributed to poor health outcomes [5,6].…”

The prevalence of low health literacy and its socio-demographic risk factors in Hebei: a provincially cross-sectional survey

“…Meanwhile, in China, people with higher age might have fewer chances to get literate due to historical reasons; (2) according to a previous study, male face with higher occupational stress compared to female [20], which might limit their time on absorbing key information on promoting health status; (3) people with lower education level might have worse ability in utilizing relevant information to keep them in health; (4) people with lower annual household income might have more stressful lives, which limited their time on considering about critical factors for health status; (5) people in rural areas might have fewer chances to receive information about promoting and maintaining good health. Therefore, these factors were closely associated with low health literacy risk, which was consistent with the results of several previous studies [11,12,18].…”

“…According to previous studies, the risk factors for low health literacy include race, resident area (rural or urban), the number of individuals in a household, age, physical exercise, education level, occupation, household income, health information access, etc. [11,17,18]. In the present study, we found that increased age, male, decreased education level, reduced annual household income and resident in rural area were correlated with lower health literacy score, and higher prevalence of inadequate health literacy.…”

Association between echinococcosis-specific health literacy and behavioral intention to prevent echinococcosis among herdsmen on the Tibet Plateau in China

“…Furthermore, it has been found that health literacy domain "active managing of one's health" measured by Scale 3 of HLQ was closely related to the health risk behaviors of Danish adults, including physically inactive, unhealthy diet and smoking [39], as well as the oral health-promoting behaviours of Slovak adults [28]. It was also indicated that "active managing of one's health" scale was signi cantly associated with the lifestyle risk factors including smoking and being more sedentary among Geelong Osteoporosis [40]. The result of our study that echinococcosis-speci c self-management ability was crucial to individual BIPE is consistent with the above studies on the association between health behaviors and self-management ability in health literacy domain.…”