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A Preliminary Study of Health Literacy in an Ethnically Diverse University Sample

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Abstract

There is a considerable body of research on health literacy in adult healthcare settings, mostly among at-risk clinical populations. However, much less is known about health literacy among youth transitioning to adulthood, including college students. Despite the protective effects of higher levels of education, some college students might have other risk factors for low health literacy (i.e., minority status). Hence, the purpose of the present study was to explore health literacy in an ethnically diverse public urban university. Although a majority of the students performed within the adequate range, we observed a subset of Hispanic and foreign students with lower health literacy, particularly in the domain of numeracy. Our preliminary results suggest that, contrary to common belief, there exists a vulnerable subpopulation of college students that have difficulty understanding and using health-related information. Health professionals should be alert to possible low health literacy among college students that may interfere with communication of vital health-related information and decision-making.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the students who participated in the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Houston, 3695 Cullen Boulevard Room 126, Houston, TX, 77204-5022, USA

    Gunes Avci, Victoria M. Kordovski & Steven P. Woods

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  1. Gunes Avci
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  2. Victoria M. Kordovski
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  3. Steven P. Woods
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Correspondence to Gunes Avci.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Houston (Protocol ID: 15289-02 - 6020).

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Avci, G., Kordovski, V.M. & Woods, S.P. A Preliminary Study of Health Literacy in an Ethnically Diverse University Sample. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 6, 182–188 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-018-0512-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-018-0512-z

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