Analysis of health literacy status and its influencing factors among Kazakh residents in Yili Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region / 中华健康管理学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate health literacy level and its influencing factors of 7, 945 Kazakh residents in Yili Prefecture, Xinjiang, China.Methods:Participants were enrolled from rural or urban Kazakh permanent residents aged 18 to 75 years living within the city and four counties of Yili Prefecture, Xinjiang, from April to November 2019. Stratified random sampling was adopted to divided the sites into five layers Yining city, Gongliu County, Nilk County, Xinyuan County and Zhaosu County. According to the calculation of actual sample size, a total of 7, 945 subjects were selected. A health literacy questionnaire was used to determine the different demographic characteristics and health literacy status of Kazakh residents.Results:A total of 7, 945 cases, with mean age of (40.6±11.6) years, including 3, 391 males (42.68%) and 4, 554 females (57.32%) were studied. The total health literacy score was (45.8±17.2). In this study, we aimed to identify health literacy status of at least 424 cases(5.34%). The number of people with safety and first aid literacy was the largest, with a total of 2, 437 cases (30.67%). The number of people with health information access literacy and infectious disease prevention literacy was relatively small, with 860 (10.82%) and 866 cases (10.90%), respectively. Univariate analysis results showed that there were statistically significant differences (all P<0.05) in the scores of marital status, age, education level, personal monthly income, occupation, and household health literacy level. The results of multiple linear regression analysis showed that the main influencing factors of Kazakh residents′ health literacy were marital status, educational level, personal monthly income, occupation, and household registration. Conclusion:The health literacy of Kazakh residents in Yili prefecture, Xinjiang is at a low level, among which literacy in health information access and infectious disease prevention and control were the lowest. Ultimately, marital status, education level, personal monthly income, occupation, household registration, and other factors can have an impact on the level of health literacy.