Assessing Health Literacy among Health Science Students in a Coastal Town of Southern India – A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Health literacy refers to the knowledge and competencies of persons to meet the complex demands of health in modern society. Healthcare professionals play an essential role in helping patients to obtain and understand health information. It is important to assess the health literacy of students of health science professions as they can contribute to enhancing the health literacy of the communities in the future. Objective: The study aimed to measure the levels of health literacy among students attending different health-related courses in a university situated in the coastal town of southern India using the HLS-EU-Q16 (Health Literacy Survey-European Union). Methods: A cross-sectional study using a self-administered health literacy survey in google forms questionnaire was conducted among 812 students enrolled among various health-related courses of which 770 students were taken for final analysis. The index scores were recoded into four health literacy categories as follows (according to thresholds established by the HLS-EU consortium): excellent (>42-50); sufficient (>33-42); problematic (>25-33); and inadequate (0-25). Key Results: The overall average health literacy score was 31.3 ± 4.4, which indicates that health literacy among the students was limited. The average health literacy score of the students of the medical college, dental college, and allied health sciences (AHS) was 32.8, 32.4 and 30.7, respectively, indicating sufficient health literacy among the different courses individually. Conclusion: The level of health literacy gives important leads to initiate curricula and educational activities, including cross-disciplinary courses.