Health literacy of junior high school students in Jiaxing and its influencing factors / 预防医学

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To learn the health literacy level and its influencing factors among junior high school students in Jiaxing, so as to provide basis for health promotion of adolescents. @*Methods@#The junior high school students who had been studying and living in Jiaxing for more than six months were selected by multistage cluster random sampling method. A questionnaire survey was conducted to collect general information and health literacy level (including basic knowledge and concept, healthy lifestyle and behaviors, and basic skills) of these selected students. The multivariate logistic regression model was used to analyze the influencing factors for health literacy.@*Results @#Of 1 773 questionnaires collected, 1 738 were valid, accounting for 98.03%. The level of health literacy in the junior high school students in Jiaxing was 22.84% ( 95%CI 20.87%-24.82% ), The levels of basic knowledge and concept, healthy lifestyle and behaviors, and basic skills were 55.29% ( 95%CI 52.95%-57.63% ), 21.75% ( 95%CI 19.81%-23.69% ), 53.05% ( 95%CI 50.70%-55.40%), respectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the second grade and above ( OR 1.609-1.835, 95%CI 1.195-2.459 ), mother's educational level of technical secondary school/senior high school and above ( OR 1.965-1.976, 95%CI 1.276-3.357 ), and self-rated academic achievement of medium and above ( OR 1.881-2.441, 95%CI 1.359-3.335 ) were the promoting factors for health literacy level of junior high school students; self rated health status as unhealthy ( OR=0.254, 95%CI 0.089-0.721 ) was an obstructive factor.@*Conclusions@#The health literacy level of the junior high school students in Jiaxing was 22.84%. The level of healthy lifestyle and behaviors was the lowest in three aspects. Grade, mother's educational level, self-rated academic performance and self-rated health status may have impacts on health literacy level of junior high school students.