Health literacy level and related factors of students in a health vocational high school

Health literacy (HL), by definition, refers to a person’s ability to obtain, interpret and comprehend fundamental health information and services in order to enhance their health. In our study, it was aimed to determine HL level of health vocational high school students. The population of this descriptive cross-sectional study consists of students attending a Health Vocational High School(n:337). In May-June 2019, questionnaire form and ‘Turkey Health Literacy Scale-32′ were applied to students who voluntarily agreed to participate in study. Kolmogorov Smirnov, Mann Whitney U, Kruskal Wallis tests were used in analysis of data. Sixty-eight percent of the pupils were female, while thirty-two percent were male. Study group had a THLQ score of 33.7±8.9, with 53.7 percent of male pupils and 39.5 percent of female pupils having insufficient/limited HL and the difference was significant (p<0.025). Insufficient/limited HL was found in 56.4 percent of 9th-10th grade students and 37.4 percent of 11th-12th grade students and the difference was significant again (p<0.0001). The HL levels did not differ from pupils’ socio-demographic factors (p>0.05). In study group, rate of adequate/perfect HL was higher in women than in men. According to scores of participants from sub-matrix components of scale, level of health literacy is generally sufficient, but sub-dimensions of “Treatment-Service-Evaluation of Information”, “Prevention from Diseases-Health Promotion-Evaluation of Information-Using Information”, “Assessment of Information about Health” are limited. The insufficiency of medical education in schools is demonstrated by the low level of HL. To enhance awareness of health-related concerns in schools, frequent activities should be planned.

Keywords: Health literacy, student, vocational high school