The relationship between health literacy and health promoting behaviors among adults in Bushehr

Abstract

Background and Objective: The skills that are required for understanding and applying health information to everyday life have been conceptualized as health literacy. Limited health literate people have more health problems, given that health promoting behaviors can play a protective role for people's health, therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between health literacy and health promoting behaviors. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 402 individuals over 18 years of age referred to the health centers (in the city of Bushehr, south of Islamic Republic of Iran), completed the (FCCHL) scales for assessing health literacy, (HPLP II) for assessing health promoting behaviors and a demographic questionnaire. The sampling method in this study was two-stage cluster sampling. Multiple regression model was performed in the analysis using R software (version 3.3.2) to predict health literacy outcome. Results: Functional, communicative and critical health literacy were related to some aspects of health-promoting behaviors but not to all. All the health literacy subscales were significant predictors of health responsibility and none of them predict interpersonal relations. Conclusions: Health literacy plays an important role in successful health-promoting lifestyle behaviors, but the impact differs by context. These findings can be used in planning and the implementation of educational interventions to improve healthy lifestyles.