Prevalence and influencing factors of health literacy among junior and senior high school students in Chongqing / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To understand the health literacy level and its influencing factors among middle school students in Chongqing, and to provide a basis for health promotion.@*Methods@#Using stratified cluster random sampling and a self-designed questionnaire, we conducted a survey among 8 449 junior and senior high school students from four districts and counties in Chongqing municipality from November to December 2019.@*Results@#The attainment rates of total health literacy, functional health literacy, interactive health literacy, and critical health literacy among middle school students in Chongqing were 67.96%, 75.12%, 50.24%, and 72.21%, respectively. Among the 12 factors, low rates were observed in health decision-making, reasonable nutrition, and communication (41.52%, 46.09% and 62.18%, respectively). After controlling for related confounding factors, the results of the multivariate Logistic regression analysis indicated that the following factors affected the total health literacy of middle school students: the investigated region (OR=1.20); school segment (OR=1.35); relationship with mother (OR=1.52); relationship with teacher (OR=2.20); number of close friends (OR=1.68); and health education course (OR=1.52) (P<0.05).@*Conclusion@#The health literacy level of middle school students in Chongqing is relatively low. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on improving interactive health literacy in order to promote the healthy development of middle school students.