Health Literacy among Undergraduates in Selected Faculties of Eastern University, Sri Lanka

Abstract

A healthy life is a wealthy life. To be healthy, everyone has to understand the basic health information that is needed to make appropriate health decisions, which can aid them in avoiding illness and safeguarding their health. In this context, the necessity of health literacy which is a type of information literacy is being considered. Health literacy is the understanding and use of health information effectively to make appropriate decision making. The study aimed to evaluate the health literacy level of undergraduates of Eastern University, Sri Lanka, and the factors influencing health literacy. A cross-sectional study was carried out among undergraduates in selected faculties of Eastern University, Sri Lanka. A validated standard questionnaire called “Health Literacy Instrument for Adults (HELIA)” was adopted to collect online data from 1085 individuals. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression. The results revealed that the mean score of overall health literacy is 65.7±13.5% which ranges between somewhat inadequate to sufficient ranks. The analysis considered the five domains of health literacy. Accordingly, a significant proportion (p<0.05) of undergraduates had adequate literacy skills for understanding health information (67.4%), and access to health information (73.7%), while the majority had a limited level of literacy for domains of reading (53.7%) and appraisal (84.1%). However, there is no significant deviation (p>0.05) between adequate and limited levels in the domain of decision-making/behavioural intention. The difference between the proportion of adequate (50.8%) and limited levels (49.2%) in overall literacy is not significant (p>0.05). The binary logistic regression proved that the health literacy of undergraduates is influenced by faculty, alcoholic habits and doctor’s advice (p<0.05), while age, gender, family income, family members who work in the healthcare field, academic year, respondents' perceptions of their health, and smoking habits, do not influence on health literacy.