Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Health literacy among adults in Yazd, Iran

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

. Ahmad Haerian
. Mohammad Hossein Baghiayni Moghaddam 1
. Mohammad Hassan Ehrampoush 2
. Soheila Bazm 3
. Maryam Hassan Bahsoun 4

1 Department of Health Education, School of Health

2 Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health

3 Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd,

4 Department of Clinical Research of Ali Eben Abitaleb Hospital, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran

Abstract
The purpose of this survey was to assess the health literacy levels and determine the relationship
between health literacy with demographic variables and the socioeconomic status Three
hundred and eighty adults, 18 years and older, were randomly selected and assessed by the
Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA) instrument in two sections of reading
comprehension and numeracy. The second instrument used to detect the relationship between
the demographic variables and socio‑economic status and the level of health literacy of the
subjects of adults in Yazd district. Three hundred and eighty adults, 18 years and older, were
randomly selected and assessed by the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA)
instrument in two sections of reading comprehension and numeracy. The second instrument
used to detect the relationship between the demographic variables and socio‑economic
status and the level of health literacy of the subjects. The mean score of a participant’s health
literacy was 73.33 ± 1.29. Fifty‑four percent of the individuals had adequate health literacy and
the rest of them had limited health literacy. The mean score of functional health literacy was
significantly different by socio‑economic status (p0.05) and the years of schooling (P = 0.00).
On the basis of linear regression, in this research, the years of schooling (B0.28, p0.01) and
marital status (B = 3.08, p0.05) were two predictors of health literacy.

Keywords

Functional health literacy
health literacy
Iran
test of functional health literacy in adults
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Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume 5, Issue 5
Autumn 2015
Pages 1-4

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