Health literacy of college students in Beijing and the demands of health education
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Health literacy of college students in Beijing and the demands of health education Jing Guo1 · Yumeng Guo1 · Lin Zhu1 · Linlin Fu1 Received: 3 February 2020 / Accepted: 12 April 2020 © China Population and Development Research 2020
Abstract Health literacy is the main component of health quality and a comprehensive health indicator reflecting related idea, cognition, behavior and skills. In this paper, we investigated the overall level and characteristics of health literacy based on the survey data of college students in Beijing. The differences of health literacy level among sub-groups were compared, and the influencing factors of health literacy were discussed. The results showed that college students had a higher level in overall health literacy than other peers, but a lower level in the prevention of chronic disease and infectious disease. The level of health literacy of college students was mainly affected by their major, hometown, and situation of health-related elective. Besides, we also found that the way college students used to acquire health knowledge was inconsistent with their expectations, and the requirements for health education were also very high. More systematic and comprehensive health education should be provided in universities, with an emphasis on the knowledge of lifestyle and daily habits. Keywords College student · Health literacy · Influencing factors · Demand
1 Introduction As an essential part of citizens’ quality, health quality is regarded as one of the goals of building a well-off society in the Report of 16th National Congress. The health literacy is the main component of health quality, which is defined as a comprehensive personal ability to access, understand and process basic health information and services, and consequently make appropriate health care decisions to maintain and promote own health (Nutbeam 2000; Guo and Wang 2005; Wang 2010; Jia et al. 2019). Health literacy is a comprehensive health indicator that reflects the related * Jing Guo [email protected] 1
Institute of Health Sciences Research, School of Sociology and Population Studies, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China
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idea, cognition, behavior and skill of an individual or a group. It’s considered to be an independent determinant of health in addition to genetic, environmental, economic and social factors (Kong and Shen 2009; Sun and Chen 2009; Tong et al. 2006; Xiao and Tao 2008). The health literacy is sometimes regarded as an indicator of human development as well as one of the millennium development goals set by the Union Nations. Moreover, some studies also treated the improvement of health literacy as the primary indicator reflecting the effect of health education and health promotion. According to the first Chinese resident nationwide health literacy survey in 2009 (Ministry of Health 2009), the overall level of health literacy of Chinese resident was only 6.48%. Notably, the health literacy level of the 15–25-year-old group was 6.30%, even
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