Abstract
BackgroundThe literature regarding the effect of health literacy on college students’ psychological health and quality of life is scarce. The purpose of conducting this cross-sectional study was to examine the effect of health literacy on certain psychological disturbances (perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and impulsivity) and quality of life of college students.MethodsA cross-sectional quantitative design was utilized in this study. A total of 310 four-year college students participated in this study. The students completed a demographics questionnaire as well as already established and validated measures of health literacy, perceived stress, depressive symptoms, impulsivity, and quality of life. Structural equation modeling was performed to analyze the data to explore the effect of health literacy on the psychological disturbances and quality of life.ResultsThe results showed that health literacy has a negative effect on three psychological disturbances commonly experienced by college students; perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and impulsivity. In addition, the effect of health literacy on the quality of life was positive.ConclusionThe proposed conceptual model was supported. College students’ counseling staff could use the findings to better address students’ needs pertinent to psychological health and quality of life. Future research is warranted to develop a more comprehensive model that explains the role of health literacy in determining college students’ psychological health and quality of life.
Highlights
The literature regarding the effect of health literacy on college students’ psychological health and quality of life is scarce
The results showed that the correlations were all moderate; which could be a threat to the discriminant validity
Discriminant validity is supported when the squared root average variance extracted (AVE) of a construct is greater than the inter-construct correlation with any other construct in the model [44]
Summary
The literature regarding the effect of health literacy on college students’ psychological health and quality of life is scarce. Being health literate enables the person to make informed decisions regarding his/her own health or the Rababah et al Health and Quality of Life Outcomes (2020) 18:292 multidimensional nature of health literacy makes it a challenging concept to define and measure [2]. Utilization of expensive healthcare services including specialized and emergency services increases with limited health literacy [7, 8]. Such detrimental effects increase the burden on healthcare systems and inflate costs [7, 9]
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