Peculiarities of Health Literacy among University Students

Aim and Background: This study deals with the investigation of health literacy among university students. Health literacy is needed to take care of our health, prevent our diseases and improve our health, as well as to maintain and improve the quality of life. The aim of this research is о study and determine particularities of health literacy among university students - men and women. It was hypothesized that women rate their health literacy better than men do.

Methods: The study used Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (HLS-EU-Q47). The HLS-EU-Q47 measures health literacy across three health domains: healthcare, disease prevention, and health promotion. The analysis covered 103 students (56 women and 47 men), which were randomly selected from two universities. The average age was 23.72±2.78 years. The subjects who agreed to participate in the study were interviewed remotely.

Results and Discussion: Indices of all domains of health literacy among male and female university students were calculated and analysed. The results indicated that the highest health literacy index was in the healthcare domain (36.95±10.32), followed by the disease prevention domain (35.64±11.07), and health promotion domain (35.34±14.89) for whole sample. It was established that female university students evaluate their health literacy better (in the healthcare domain (t(101)=-3.52; p=0.001) and in the disease prevention (t(101)=-2.98; p=0.004), than male university students do, with the exception of health literacy in health prоmоtiоn domain (t(101)=-1.47; p=0.146). Female university students scored higher in the healthcare domain (40.07±10.36) than male university students (33.24±09.06) and in the disease prevention domain, respectively (38.51±11.25) and (32.22±09.93).

Conclusions: To sum up, health literacy among university students is insufficient. The findings of the present study point out new trends to a deeper understanding of the peculiarities of health literacy among university students.