Nursing students’ understanding of health literacy and health practices: a cross-sectional study at a university in Namibia

Abstract Background A poor understanding of health literacy and inadequate health practices among nurses can be detrimental to a population’s health. The starting point of solving this problem is through the provision of methodical health literacy and health practice education in the nursing curriculum. This study explored nursing students’ understanding of the concept of ‘health literacy’ and their health practices at a university in Namibia. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among 205 nursing students. A simple stratified sampling method was used and data were collected using a self-reporting Understanding of Health Literacy (UHL) questionnaire. Pearson correlation, independent t-test and One-way ANOVA were used to analyse the data. Results The overall mean Understanding of Health Literacy score was 13.04 ± 1.52. The majority (n = 157; 76.5%) of the students were found to have adequate health literacy scores, 21.5% had moderate health literacy scores, and only 2% had inadequate health literacy scores. The overall mean health practice score was 32.4 ± 5.50. Most (n = 106; 51.7%) of the students were found to have poor health practices, 44.4% had average health practices, and just 3.9% had good health practices. There was no significant relationship between the health literacy levels and health practices of the students (p = 0.63). Conclusions Nursing students have a good understanding of the concept of health literacy, but more effort can be made to translate this understanding into health literacy skills. There is a need to investigate the contributing factors to poor health practices, as well as develop strategies that can support good health practices among nursing students. These health literacy skills could then be transferred into the students' professional careers as nurses.

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Nursing Students’ Health Literacy Level and Health Practices: a Cross Sectional Study at a University in Namibia

10.21203/rs.3.rs-192225/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Takaedza Munangatire ◽

Nestor Tomas ◽

Violetha Mareka

Keyword(s):

Health Literacy ◽

Nursing Students ◽

Good Health ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Poor Health ◽

Health Practices ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Health Literacy Level ◽

Literacy Level ◽

Literacy Scores

Abstract Background: Inadequate health literacy and poor health practices among nurses could be a hindrance to empowering the population with good health practices. For the nurses to empower the population, they need to be equipped with good health literacy and good health practices. The starting point of solving this problem is through provision of deliberate health literacy and health practice education in the nursing curriculum. This study explored health literacy level and health practices of nursing students in Namibia. Specifically the study examined the health literacy level, health practices and the relationship between the two among nursing students across four levels of study. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among 205 nursing students. A simple random stratified sampling method was used and data were collected using questionnaire for health literacy (16 items) and health practices (11 items. Pearson correlation, independent t-test and One-way ANOVA were used to analyse the data. Results: The overall mean general health literacy score was 13.04± 1.52. The majority (n=157;76.5%) of the students were found to have adequate health literacy scores, 21.5% with moderate health literacy scores and only 2% with inadequate health literacy scores. The overall mean health practice score was 32.4± 5.50. Most (n=106; 51.7%) of the students were found to have poor health practices, 44.4% had average health practices and 3.9% had good health practices. There was no significant relationship between health literacy levels and health practices of the students (p=0.63).Conclusions: Nursing students have good health literacy but more efforts should be applied to maintain such health literacy levels during and beyond the point of graduation. However, with poor health practices, there is need to investigate more on the contributing factors and develop strategies that can support good health practices among nursing students and maybe these can be transferred into their professional careers as nurses.

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Indonesian Student Nurses’ E-Health Literacy Skills

10.3233/shti210767 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Dame Elysabeth Tarihoran ◽

Dian Anggraini ◽

Enni Juliani ◽

Ressa Ressa ◽

Ihlus Fardan

Keyword(s):

Health Literacy ◽

Nursing Students ◽

Health Information ◽

Nursing Student ◽

Student Nurses ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Literacy Skills ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Ehealth Literacy

Background: Nurses should have a good level of e-health literacy to help patients utilize e-health information. Objective: To measure e-health literacy skills and contribute factors. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 2209 nursing student in Indonesia (October–November 2019) using eHeals. Result: The overall eHealth literacy was 4 (Scale 1–5). There were statistically significant differences between e-Heals score with contribute factors (<0.001). Conclusion: Indonesian nursing students already have basic necessary skills of e-health.

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The effect of health literacy on treatment adherence in maintenance haemodialysis patients: a cross-sectional study

Renal Society of Australasia Journal ◽

10.33235/rsaj.15.1.11-18 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 11-18

Author(s):

Adrian Esterman

Keyword(s):

Health Literacy ◽

Treatment Adherence ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Literacy Skills ◽

Self Report ◽

Cross Sectional Survey ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Maintenance Haemodialysis ◽

Concept Of Health ◽

Multidimensional Concept

Background: Treatment non-adherence may be prevalent in patients requiring haemodialysis (HD). Health literacy plays an important role in self-management. However, most research has only assessed basic literacy skills in the haemodialysis cohort. Aim: To determine the association between a multidimensional concept of health literacy and self-reported treatment adherence in HD patients. Method: A cross-sectional survey was undertaken with 42 maintenance HD patients from two South Australian dialysis centres. The Functional, Communicative and Critical Health Literacy (FCCHL) tool was used to assess health literacy. Treatment adherence was measured using a self-report tool developed by the researchers. Results: Higher overall health literacy was associated with increased adherence to food (OR 3.66; 95% CI 1.08–12.43; p=0.038), fluid (OR 4.92; 95% CI 1.13–21.35; p=0.033) and medications (OR 11.88; 95% CI 2.26–62.44; p=0.003). Conclusion: Interventions should be designed to facilitate a multidimensional concept of health literacy to assist patients to follow treatment recommendations.

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Association of Health Literacy with the Implementation of Exercise during the Declaration of COVID-19 State of Emergency among Japanese Community-Dwelling Old-Old Adults

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18042100 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (4) ◽

pp. 2100

Author(s):

Daijo Shiratsuchi ◽

Hyuma Makizako ◽

Yuki Nakai ◽

Yoshiaki Taniguchi ◽

Tomomi Akanuma ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Literacy ◽

Mail Survey ◽

Good Health ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Exercise Group ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Multivariate Logistic Regression Model ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

State Of Emergency ◽

Old Adults

Health literacy is important for promoting and maintaining good health in old-old adults. It may influence the implementation of exercise in the coronavirus disease epidemic. The present cross-sectional study investigated the association of each dimension of health literacy with the implementation of exercise during the declaration of a state of emergency due to coronavirus disease in community-dwelling old-old adults. We collected data from 483 community-dwelling old-old adults (52.8% women) aged between 77 and 99 years who participated in a mail survey. Participants were divided into exercise or nonexercise groups based on the implementation of exercise during the declaration of a state of emergency. Health literacy was assessed using a 14-item health literacy scale. There were 327 (67.7%) participants in the exercise group and 156 (32.3%) in the nonexercise group. A significantly higher score of health literacy was observed in the exercise group than in the nonexercise group (communicative health literacy score = 14.0 ± 3.6 vs. 12.7 ± 3.8, p = 0.001). In a multivariate logistic regression model adjusted for potential confounders, high communicative health literacy scores were significantly associated with the implementation of exercise during the declaration of a state of emergency (odds ratio = 1.88, 95% confidence interval = 1.20–2.93). Approximately two-thirds of community-dwelling old-old adults implement exercise during the declaration of a state of emergency. High communicative health literacy was associated with the implementation of exercise during this period.

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Health Literacy Associations with Periodontal Disease among Slovak Adults

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17062152 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (6) ◽

pp. 2152

Author(s):

Silvia Timková ◽

Tatiana Klamárová ◽

Eva Kovaľová ◽

Bohuslav Novák ◽

Peter Kolarčik ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Literacy ◽

Periodontal Disease ◽

Oral Hygiene ◽

Disease Incidence ◽

Good Health ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Treatment Needs ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Periodontal Index ◽

Community Periodontal Index

Periodontal disease is inflammation of the gums and without good oral hygiene, it can progress to periodontitis. Oral hygiene might be related to a patient’s health literacy (HL), defined as ability to gain access, understand, and use information to promote and maintain good health. The aim of our study is to examine the associations of HL with indicators of periodontal disease. A cross-sectional study on 1117 adults (36.2% males; mean age = 36.4, SD = 14.2) attending dental hygiene treatment was conducted. Data on demographics, socioeconomic status, and nine domains of HL (Health Literacy Questionnaire, HLQ) were collected by questionnaire, and Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Needs (CPITN) was established by the dental hygienist. Data were analysed using t-tests and logistic regression. Respondents with periodontal disease (N = 152) had statistically significantly lower levels of HL in seven out of nine HLQ domains compared to intact patients (N = 818) (t from 3.03 to 4.75, p < 0.01). Association of higher HL in seven domains with lower chance of diagnosed periodontal disease remain significant even after adjustment for age, gender and educational attainment (adjusted ORs 0.55–0.67, p < 0.05). Our findings confirm that an individual’s lower HL is significantly associated with higher chance of periodontal disease incidence, specifically among Slovak adults attending oral hygiene clinics. HL might be a promising factor in the improvement of oral health in this population, worthy of consideration in intervention and preventive activities.

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Measuring health literacy combining performance-based and self-assessed measures: the roles of age, educational level and financial resources in predicting health literacy skills. A cross-sectional study conducted in Florence (Italy)

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2019-035987 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (10) ◽

pp. e035987

Author(s):

Chiara Lorini ◽

Vieri Lastrucci ◽

Diana Paolini ◽

Guglielmo Bonaccorsi

Keyword(s):

Health Literacy ◽

Educational Level ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Literacy Skills ◽

Financial Resources ◽

Psychiatric Disease ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Age Class ◽

Ordinal Logistic Regression Analysis

ObjectiveThe objective was to compare the results of performance-based and self-assessed measures of health literacy (HL) and to evaluate the contribution of their joint use in assessing some HL antecedents.DesignThis was a cross-sectional study.SettingThe study was conducted on the general population in Florence (Italy).ParticipantsThis study is part of a larger one, where participants were randomly selected from the registries of 11 general practitioners working in the municipality of Florence. Inclusion criteria were the following: 18–69 years of age and Italian speaking. Exclusion criteria included cognitive impairment, severe psychiatric disease or end-stage disease. In this paper, 212 adults were included.Outcome measuresHL was measured using the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (HLS-EU-Q16) and the Newest Vital Sign (NVS). The HL levels obtained by means of the two measurement tools were combined into a new variable that described three different levels of HL skills: low HL skills, partial HL skills and high HL skills. Multivariate ordinal logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the predictive roles of age class, educational level and financial resources with respect to HL skills.ResultsTwenty-two per cent of the sample had high HL skills, 28.3% had low HL skills and 49.5% had partial HL skills. Educational level, age class and financial resources were significantly associated with HL skills, with OR values being higher than those obtained using the NVS or the HLS-EU-Q16 individually.ConclusionThe combination of the results obtained using the NVS and the HLS-EU-Q16 improves the understanding of HL. The new variable generated by this combination could be considered as a different way to assess HL and its multidimensional contents.

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The effect of undergraduate nursing students’ e-Health literacy on healthy lifestyle behaviour

Global Health Promotion ◽

10.1177/1757975920960442 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 175797592096044

Author(s):

Nuray Turan ◽

Nur Güven Özdemir ◽

Yeliz Çulha ◽

Gülsün Özdemir Aydın ◽

Hatice Kaya ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Literacy ◽

Nursing Students ◽

Healthy Lifestyle ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Lifestyle Behaviour ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Undergraduate Nursing Students ◽

Lifestyle Behaviours ◽

Undergraduate Nursing ◽

The Mean

e-Health literacy has become more important in promoting healthy lifestyles in recent years. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of undergraduate nursing students’ e-Health literacy on healthy lifestyle behaviours. This cross-sectional study was conducted during the 2016–2017 academic year at a Nursing Department in the Faculty of Health Sciences in Istanbul. The study population consisted of 232 undergraduate nursing students. The study sample was 205 students who volunteered to participate in the research. The data were collected using the Structured Questionnaire Form, the e-Health Literacy Scale in Adolescent and the Adolescent Lifestyle Profile Scale. The mean score of the e-Health Literacy Scale in Adolescent was 29.50 ± 5.02. The mean total score of the Adolescent Lifestyle Profile was 112.11 ± 14.66. There was a positive correlation between students’ Internet attitudes and general health-promoting lifestyle ( r = 0.273; p < 0.01), indicating the higher the students’ e-Health literacy, the higher their levels of healthy lifestyle behaviours. The result showed that e-Health literacy is an important parameter in promoting healthy lifestyle behaviours of nursing students.

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What Are the Effective Health Literacy Skills in Adopting Walking Behavior to Prevent Osteoporosis?

10.21203/rs.3.rs-572823/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Rahman Panahi ◽

Mohiadin Amjadian ◽

Fatemeh Samiei siboni ◽

Mahya Shafaei ◽

Seyedeh somayeh kazemi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Literacy ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Literacy Skills ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Walking Behavior ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Multi Stage ◽

Prevention Of Osteoporosis ◽

The Relationship

Abstract Background:Considering the effect of exercise and health literacy in preventing osteoporosis, the effect of health literacy in adopting preventive behaviors, and the role of health volunteers in transferring the health messages to the community, this study aimed to determine the relationship between health literacy skills and adopting walking behavior to prevent osteoporosis in health volunteers. Methods:In a descriptive cross-sectional study, 290 health volunteers referring to Qazvin health centers in 1399 were selected through Multi-stage random sampling. Data were collected using a health literacy questionnaire (HELIA) and a questionnaire for the adoption of walking behaviors for the prevention of osteoporosis, and they were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression in SPSS software version 23. Results: The mean and standard deviation of the adoption of walking behaviors were 10.57 ± 1.43which was moderate. Age (P = 0.025, 1/098), decision-making skills and application of health information (P <0.001), perception (P = 0.037, 054/1 = OR) and evaluation (P = 0.029, 049 = OR) were factors affecting the adoption of this behavior, so that by increasing one score to these variables, the chance of adopting the behavior increased 135/1, 1.054 and 049/1 respectively. Also, the level of education was another effective factor in adopting this behavior, so that having a favorable level of adoption of this behavior in health volunteers with diploma degree (P = 0.017, OR = 0.736) and below diploma (011/0 = P, 960 = OR), were 0.736 and 0.960 times of those with university degrees respectively.Conclusion:To improve the adoption of walking behaviors to prevent osteoporosis, we should pay special attention to effective health literacy skills in the health volunteers.

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