Factors associated with Health Literacy for Self-Health Care of among People in the Working Age Group

Abstract

We conducted a cross-sectional research study to explore the level of health literacy for self-health care and to investigate factors associated with health literacy among people in the working age group. Our participants (n=1,768) were aged 18 years and over, and were randomly sampled from different regions in Thailand. We used online questionnaires via Google Forms to collect data from participants. We found adequate content validity of the questionnaire (IOC = 0.89). The questionnaire also had good reliability (Cronbach’s alpha coefficient = 0.87). We used descriptive analysis and multiple regression analysis to analyze the data.

Our findings indicated that health literacy of most participants was at a good level (   = 119.16, S.D.=17.31). Our regression analysis showed that showed that factors including income, information recognition period, information awareness, access to information, information trust, and presentation of media elements (such as content, visual presentation, and delivery) were associated with the level of health literacy for self-health care of people in the working age group (p-value < 0.01). All independent factors combined together were capable of explaining 90.30% of variation in the health literacy for self-health care (R² =0.903, F =185.18, p<0.001) We recommend that health educators should design and verify the quality of health media. Additionally, public health departments should create a strategy to provide public health education by increasing the capacity of healthcare workers.