A Study of Health Literacy Components and their Relationships with Health-Promoting Behaviors in Students at Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences

Abstract

Background Health literacy is the capacity of individuals to acquire process and understand information and basic health services needed for proper health decision-making. Medical students, as health promoters and professional care providers, play a key role in promoting health. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the components of health literacy and their relationships with health-promoting behaviors in students at Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences in 2017. Materials and Methods In this descriptive, analytical and correlational study, the statistical population consisted of all students at four faculties of Nursing and Midwifery, Health, Paramedics and Medicine in 2017. Then, the sample size was determined using the Cochran's sample size formula (n=420), and cluster random sampling was the sampling method. For data collection, a researcher-made demographic questionnaire, the health literacy questionnaire (1) the standard questionnaire of health-promoting lifestyle profile II were utilized. Furthermore, for data analysis, the descriptive (frequency distribution, mean, and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation coefficient) were employed in the SPSS Statistics Software Version 23.0. Results The results of the present study demonstrated that the means of students’ health literacy and health-promoting behaviors measured 4.04±0.43 out of a score of 5and 2.68±0.43 out of a score of 4, respectively. Also, the results indicated that the health literacy significantly and positively correlated with students’ health-promoting behaviors (p Conclusion Given the results of the present study, it is recommended that some planning be done towards training and developing the health-promoting behaviors in students and more attention be paid to health literacy in health promotion programs.