Abstract
Objectives: Examining whether specific population groups who are not working and those who have an employment have the same health literacy level. Methods: Data were retrieved from a nationally representative cross-sectional study of the Danish population conducted with the health literacy questionnaire (HLS-EU-Q16) in 2016 and 2017. Socio-demographic characteristics were drawn from national registers. Odds ratio for the association between employment status and health literacy was estimated from logistic regression models, adjusted for socio-demographic characteristics. Probability weights were used to adjust for differences in responses. Results: Logistic regression analyses showed that receiving unemployment benefits, social assistance, employment and support allowance, retirement pension and sickness benefit were significantly associated with having inadequate health literacy compared to being employed in any industry. The highest odds ratio for inadequate health literacy was present for receiving unemployment benefit OR = 1.78 (95% CI: 1.23–2.56). Conclusion: Population groups not working and receiving economic public support have higher odds of inadequate health literacy competencies compared to those active in the labor force, considering age and socioeconomic factors. The result contributes to understanding health disparities in connection to occupational situation.
Highlights
IntroductionThe concept of health literacy has received increasing attention worldwide [1]
Over the last decades, the concept of health literacy has received increasing attention worldwide [1]
The highest prevalence of inadequate health literacy was found for the group receiving unemployment benefit, around 54% and the lowest distribution was found for the group being on voluntary early retirement pension, around 32%
Summary
The concept of health literacy has received increasing attention worldwide [1]. Health literacy is a complex phenomenon, concerning the ability to access, understand, appraise and apply health information, enabling the individual to promote and maintain health. The need for health literacy skills increases concurrently with the abundant health information available and the societal demand for the individuals to be active and involved regarding their health to prevent illness. Results from a Danish study [6] found that nearly 40% of the study population faced difficulties in accessing, understanding, appraising, and applying health information as 8.18% presented with inadequate health literacy and 30.94% with problematic health literacy [6]. Inadequate health literacy is considered a public health challenge and is shown to have severe consequences, both for the individual and at a societal level as it is directly and indirectly associated with poorer health outcomes [7, 8]
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