Health literacy predicts Covid‐19 awareness and protective behaviours of university students

Abstract

Background Health literacy is expected to help individuals deal with the required infection control and knowledge to cope with the COVID‐19 pandemic. Objectives This study examined the impact of health literacy on Covid‐19 awareness and protective behaviours of university students in Pakistan. Methods An online questionnaire was used to collect data from students at three universities in Punjab. The approved questionnaire contained 12 statements related to HL, 21 items towards Covid‐19 awareness, and 11 statements related to protective behaviours, along with some demographic data. Data analysis used Pearson correlation and simple linear regression. Results Health literacy of university students positively predicted their Covid‐19 awareness and protective behaviours indicating that students with high health literacy were likely to be more aware of Covid‐19 and adopt health protective behaviours. There were gender and rural/urban differences. Conclusions The results demonstrated an urgent need for planning a needs‐based health literacy programme focusing specifically on Covid‐19 literacy in Pakistan. This research might help policy‐makers, NGOs, and health librarians devise suitable programme.

Childhood Handwashing Habit Formation and Later COVID-19 Preventive Practices: A Cohort Study

“…This may be because adolescents living in rural areas have lower health literacy concerning disease prevention and control. 38 Adolescents living in rural areas may also have had lower COVID-19 awareness, 38 particularly because most of the COVID-19 cases in Taiwan during the study period were recorded in urban areas (e.g., provincial cities and districts). Therefore, disease prevention programs targeting preventive behaviors should be developed and implemented with consideration given to the effects of sex and location.…”

The Roles of Health and e-Health Literacy, Conspiracy Beliefs and Political Sympathy in the Adherence to Preventive Measures Recommended during the Pandemic

“…Recently, Okan et al have even used the term 'social vaccine' in relation to HL in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic [32]. Indeed, many authors of the subsequent studies confirmed a significant association between HL and attitudes and knowledge about preventive measures during the COVID-19 pandemic [33][34][35][36] or compliance with preventive measures [35,[37][38][39][40] in various populations. Interestingly, some authors reported that HL is associated with knowledge and positive attitudes toward COVID-19 preventive measures but not with adopting preventive behaviors [36,41].…”

Assessing COVID-19 Health Information on Google Using the Quality Evaluation Scoring Tool (QUEST): Cross-sectional and Readability Analysis

“…This has been affirmed by studies using different criteria from our own including the DISCERN scoring system [ 6 ], JAMA benchmarks [ 30 ], and even the HONcode system [ 31 ]. Additionally, with massive public health awareness efforts underway to encourage COVID-19 vaccination and safe social practices, accurate online media has become increasingly important as a direct source of information for all demographics [ 32 ].…”