Double burden of COVID-19 knowledge deficit: low health literacy and high information avoidance.
BMC Res Notes
; 15(1): 27, 2022 Feb 05.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1923575
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
People with lower levels of health literacy are likely to report engaging in information avoidance. However, health information avoidance has been overlooked in previous research on responses to viral outbreaks. The purpose of this cross-sectional survey study was to assess the relationship between health literacy and COVID-19 information avoidance. Students (n = 561) at a university in the south central region of the U.S. completed our online survey conducted from April to June 2020 using simple random sampling. We measured information avoidance and the degree to which people opt not to learn about COVID-19 when given the choice. We assessed participants' health literacy level using the Newest Vital Sign (NVS), eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS), and All Aspect of Health Literacy Scale (AAHLS).RESULTS:
Those with lower health literacy were more likely to avoid information about COVID-19. This negative association between health literacy and information avoidance was consistent across all types of health literacymeasures:
NVS scores (b = - 0.47, p = 0.033), eHEALS scores (b = - 0.12, p = 0.003), functional health literacy (b = - 0.66, p = 0.001), communicative health literacy (b = - 0.94, p < 0.001), information appraisal (b = - 0.36, p = 0.004), and empowerment (b = - 0.62, p = 0.027). The double burden of low health literacy and high information avoidance is likely to lead to a lack of knowledge about COVID-19.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Telemedicine
/
Health Literacy
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
BMC Res Notes
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S13104-022-05913-8
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