Abstract
BackgroundHealth literacy is widely considered as a key determinant of health and a priority in the public health policy agenda. Low health literacy has been associated with poorer health states, broader inequalities and higher health systems’ costs. In the present study we bring into focus the functional health literacy among university students in Greece, researching and assessing mainly their ability to apply basic knowledge in a health context.MethodsThe study was carried out during the period 15–30 April 2013, among a random sample of 1,526 students of 14 Higher Tertiary Public universities and Technological Educational Institutes in Greece. The objective of the study was to assess the functional health literacy among university students in Greece, adopting the short four-item comprehension test of Bostock and Steptoe. Summary statistics, correlations and regressions were used to assess the determinants of health literacy and the association with self-perceived health, health behaviours and health risks.ResultsEconomic factors, such as family income, demographic factors, such as gender, and health behaviours and risks, namely consumption of alcohol, smoking and physical workout are associated with the level of health literacy and health status of the participant. While the results of the study are consistent with previous work in this area, several findings worth further research.ConclusionsThough, health promotion interventions in Greece include health literacy as one of the basic pillars of the public health policy agenda, it is clear, that health literacy needs to become a key policy issue in Greece, mainly focusing in young ages, where healthy (or unhealthy) behaviours are established affecting the health through the life span.
Highlights
Health literacy is widely considered as a key determinant of health and a priority in the public health policy agenda
In the present study we study and assess the functional health literacy among university students in Greece, researching and analysing mainly their ability to apply basic knowledge in a health context [15]
A family income of less than 1,100 Euros decreases his/her ordered log-odds of being in a higher HealthLiteracy by 26.3% compared with a student whose family income is more than 2,200 Euros
Summary
Health literacy is widely considered as a key determinant of health and a priority in the public health policy agenda. In the present study we study and assess the functional health literacy among university students in Greece, researching and analysing mainly their ability to apply basic knowledge in a health context [15]. Though, it might seems a target group of de facto high education level and good health status, it is the age group (18–24 year old), on which all health systems should watch over, reforming their public health preventing policies, to establish healthy behaviours and eliminate health risks [16,17,18,19,20,21]
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