Abstract
Low health literacy is associated with poorer health and quality of life. An open question is whether a regional integrated healthcare system whose management strives to enable and empower its members with regard to health issues can contribute to a higher level of health literacy in the population. Against this background, in a cross-sectional study we surveyed a random selection of members of an integrated healthcare system in southwestern Germany (n = 180). The standardized questionnaire included, inter alia, questions on health literacy and subjective health. In this sample we wanted to (1) determine the proportion of respondents with sufficient health literacy and (2) investigate whether the association between health literacy and quality of life and subjective health status—as found in other studies—can be replicated. In our sample a health literacy score could be calculated in 126 subjects (70%). A sufficient level of health literacy was detected in 62% of respondents. Confirming the findings of a meta-analysis based on international studies, we found moderate correlations between health literacy and quality of life (r = 0.41) and health literacy and subjective health status (r = 0.40); these correlations hardly decreased when we controlled for various sociodemographic characteristics. As the proportion of respondents with sufficient health literacy was higher in our sample than in comparable studies conducted in Germany, we may hypothesize that an integrated healthcare system like the one we surveyed could have contributed to increased health literacy in the population. Thus, it could be worthwhile to investigate this research question with a more rigorous study design and a larger sample.
Highlights
According to a common definition, health literacy “entails people’s knowledge, motivation and competences to access, understand, appraise, and apply health information in order to make judgments and take decisions in everyday life concerning healthcare, disease prevention and health promotion to maintain or improve quality of life during the life course” [1].In the course of the two preceding decades, health literacy has definitively become a high priority in health care
Confirming the findings of a meta-analysis based on international studies, we found moderate correlations between health literacy and quality of life (r = 0.41) and health literacy and subjective health status (r = 0.40); these correlations hardly decreased when we controlled for various sociodemographic characteristics
As the proportion of respondents with sufficient health literacy was higher in our sample than in comparable studies conducted in Germany, we may hypothesize that an integrated healthcare system like the one we surveyed could have contributed to increased health literacy in the population
Summary
According to a common definition, health literacy “entails people’s knowledge, motivation and competences to access, understand, appraise, and apply health information in order to make judgments and take decisions in everyday life concerning healthcare, disease prevention and health promotion to maintain or improve quality of life during the life course” [1].In the course of the two preceding decades, health literacy has definitively become a high priority in health care. According to a common definition, health literacy “entails people’s knowledge, motivation and competences to access, understand, appraise, and apply health information in order to make judgments and take decisions in everyday life concerning healthcare, disease prevention and health promotion to maintain or improve quality of life during the life course” [1]. Compared to the Anglo-American region, Germany has taken up the debate and public attention on health literacy rather late [2,3]. The European Health Literacy Survey (HLS-EU), started in 2009 [4], made this topic increasingly important in Germany [2]: according to a more recent representative study, approximately every second adult in Germany has limited health literacy [5], i.e., every second adult has difficulties in accessing, understanding, appraising, and. Public Health 2020, 17, 1683; doi:10.3390/ijerph17051683 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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