Exploring health literacy and its associated factors among Palestinian university students: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Summary Health literacy plays an important role in personal and community health. Since university is a turning point when young adults begin to take responsibility for their own health, understanding university students’ health literacy levels is crucial. To this end, we aimed to explore health literacy and its associated factors among Palestinian university students. We conducted a cross-sectional study at Birzeit University in the Ramallah district. We recruited 472 students using convenience sampling at six on-campus cafeterias. The 44-item Arabic version of the Health Literacy Questionnaire was used to measure students’ health literacy levels, while a locally developed distress scale was used to measure students’ distress levels. We stratified the multiple regression model for the health literacy score by gender. Students’ average total health literacy score was 135.3 (SD 20.9), with male students scoring significantly higher than female students. A higher health literacy score was significantly associated with having a father with a higher level of education, a higher frequency of medical checkups, higher self-reported health status, and consulting a higher number of sources for health-related information. High distress levels were associated with lower levels of health literacy, especially among female students. This study provides the first evidence on Palestinian university students’ health literacy levels. Tailored health education and promotion are required for students with low parental education and moderate to high distress. Future research is required to explain the gender differences in health literacy and distress among university students.

Health literacy and associated factors among undergraduates: A university-based cross-sectional study in Nepal

“…Contrary to our expectation, health literacy was not associated with the academic year and parent's highest level of education as reported in previous studies [7,8,14,17,33]. This absence of association is not well understood and needs to be explored prospectively in future research.…”

Insights of literacy on preventive behaviors of non-communicable diseases in Bangladesh: descriptive types of cross-sectional study among female university students

“…11,12,14,17 In the contrary, health literacy was not associated with parent's highest level of education as reported in previous studies. 11,14,[18][19][20] This contrast observation is not well understood and needs to be explored prospectively in future research. Moreover, who did not have any family history of NCDs found to have less literacy on NCDs prevention.…”

“…The finding coincides with the Palestinian university-based study which revealed that more frequent use of health services is associated with higher health literacy. 20 Likewise, study in Taiwan showed a positive association between e-health literacy and health service utilization among college students. 21 As solutions, proper establishment of health insurance as well as frequent medical checkups, either from illness or as screening, could lead to more exposure to health professionals, which might contribute to higher health literacy among university students.…”

Üniversite Öğrencilerinin Sağlık Okuryazarlığı Düzeylerinin İncelenmesi: Bartın Üniversitesi Örneği

“…S. ÇELİK, Z. İSTEK, A. KIZKIN, M. C. YİĞİT, H. KAÇAN Güzel 20 , Okur ve arkadaşları 17 ile Sarhan ve arkadaşları 31 çalışmalarında öğrencilerin gelir düzeyinin sağlık okuryazarlık düzeylerini etkilemediğini bildirirken, Zhang ve arkadaşları 29 öğrencilerin sosyoekonomik durumları sağlık okuryazarlık düzeyleri arasında ilişki olduğunu rapor etmiştir. Şirin ve arkadaşları da ailenin ekonomik durumu arttıkça öğrencilerin sağlık okuryazarlık düzeyinin mükemmel düzeye ulaştığını belirtmiştir.…”

“…Annesi okuryazar olmayan öğrencilerin sağlık okuryazarlığı puan ortalaması anlamlı şekilde en düşüktü (p<0,05). Şirin ve arkadaşları 22 ile Sarhan ve arkadaşları 31 da anneleri okuryazar olmayan öğrencilerin sağlık okuryazarlığı puan ortalamalarının en düşük olduğunu saptamışlardır. Zhang ve arkadaşları, en yüksek eğitim düzeyine sahip ebeveynlerin öğrencilerin sağlık okuryazarlık düzeylerini anlamlı şekilde olumlu etkilediğini bildirmiştir 29 .…”