Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Abstract AIMS: Improvement of general health literacy is one of the ways to achieve the desired public
health condition. To this end, the first step is to determine the health literacy level and its associated
demographic factors in individuals.
SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This study was a cross‑sectional, descriptive‑analytic survey conducted
on 700 adults (age range: 18–65 years) in Bardaskan, Iran. The required samples were selected
via random cluster sampling method.
SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The demographic questionnaire was used to collect sociodemographic
information. The Health Literacy for Iranian Adults questionnaire was used to determine the level of
health literacy in participants.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Data analysis was conducted using SPSS software version 20 through
descriptive and inferential statistics. Results were considered statistically significant at P ≤ 0.05.
RESULTS: A total of 700 participants with a mean (standard deviation) age of 31.25 (9.32) years
participated in this study. The primary sources of health information were physicians and health
staff (50.9%) followed by the Internet (19.7%). The health literacy level of 18.1% of the participants
was inadequate, 27.7% was marginal, 39.4% was adequate, and 14.7% was excellent. The mean
overall scores of health literacy and its subscales were within the adequate range (66.1–84.0). The
relationships of health literacy level with age, education, marital status, occupational status, and
history of disease were statistically significant (P < 0.001).
CONCLUSION: It seems necessary to design and implement a variety of educational programs to
improve the general health literacy of the citizens of Bardaskan. Educational programs need to focus
on groups with higher priority such as elderly people, individuals with lower educational levels, widows/
widowers and divorced/separated individuals, unemployed and retired individuals, homemakers, and
individuals with a history of disease.