Effectiveness of medical intervention on health literacy of urban vs. rural residents living in Wenzhou City of Zhejiang Province

Abstract

Objective To investigate health literacy before and after the medical intervention and its influencing factors so as to provide evidence for public health promotion. Methods Stratified multi-stage random sampling method was applied for residents aged 15-69 years from 8 urban or rural communities of Taishun County of Lucheng District. The comprehensive health literacy promotion and intervention was carried out, and a unified citizen health literacy questionnaire was designed. Residents' health literacy, the three aspects of health literature and five categories of health literacy issues levels were compared before and after the intervention, and Chi-square test was used for data analysis. Results The overall rate of having health literacy was 11.8% and 16.3% in 2012 and 2013, respectively (χ2=7.20, P<0.01). The rate of basic health concept and knowledge, health lifestyles and behaviors, and medical skills were significantly raised from 18.5%, 9.4% and 23.5% to 28.0%, 14.6% and 33.5%, respectively (χ2 values were 21.60, 11.07 and 20.85, respectively; all P<0.01). As to the five issues of health literacy, the level of the scientific healthy literacy, the chronic disease literacy, the literacy of infectious disease, the safety and first aid literacy and the basic health literacy were significantly inclined (52.4% vs. 40.4%, 39.3% vs. 31.8%, 27.8% vs. 22.4%, 74.0% vs. 58.2% and 41.9% vs. 33.8%, respectively; χ2 values were 27.79, 34.95, 8.10, 43.07 and 13.61, respectively; all P<0.01). Conclusion Health education was helpful in the promotion of healthy literacy. Healthy lifestyles and behavior literacy and chronic disease prevention literacy should be important for the rural, elderly, low-education level and low-income populations. Key words: Health literacy; Intervention studies; Evaluation studies