Abstract
The purpose of this study is to explore the degree of change in the health literacy (HL) level of residents and the impacts of health education related to COVID-19 on the HL in the context of the new coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) epidemic, combined with the 2018–2020 health literacy survey data of residents in Suzhou of China. A population-based sample of 9003 participants, 15–69 years of age, in Suzhou was used from China’s 2018 to 2020 National Health Literacy Surveillance Data. Multivariate logistic regression models were established to analyze the degree of change in health literacy. The residents’ awareness rate of HL in Suzhou, China, from 2018 to 2020 was 32.7%, 37.1%, and 46.6% (P < 0.05). Most of the dimensions of HL improved in 2019, except for Basic Knowledg and Concept (BKC), Prevention and Treatment of Chronic Disease (CD), and Basic Medical (BM), for which the awareness rates in 2019 were lower than those in 2018 (39.1% versus 38.0%, 20.3% versus 18.0%, and 13.0% versus 7.8%, respectively). All of the dimensions of HL in 2020 increased to a certain extent, being higher than those in 2018. The largest improvement among the 3 dimensions was Healthy Skills (HS), which increased by 4.819 times (95% CI 4.810–4.828), and the major improvement among the 6 dimensions was Basic Medical (BM), which increased by 4.427 times (95% CI 4.239–4.256). In the context of the COVID-19 epidemic, the level of health literacy of Suzhou residents was significantly improved in 2020.
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Zhang, J., Ma, Y., Dong, H. et al. The level of Health Literacy of Residents in Suzhou, China: a three-wave cross-sectional study. China popul. dev. stud. 6, 206–221 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42379-022-00109-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42379-022-00109-w