Objective:
To investigate the status of Corona
Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
health literacy and associated factors in
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Methods:
Based on the multi-stage
stratified sampling method, the
questionnaire survey of
health literacy of COVID-19 were carried out in 55 599 local residents from12 prefecture-level cities of
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region between March 10 and 15, 2020. The
questionnaire in details included not only
knowledge,
attitude and
behavior, but also
mental health, their scores were calculated using
Decimal method. A ≥80% of the correct answer rate of the
survey content was regarded as qualified for
health literacy. There were 51 722 (93.0%) valid
questionnaires, according to the ratio of
medical staff to non-
medical staff, 32 529
questionnaires were selected for
analysis. The
health literacy level was defined according to the proportion of qualified people.The credibility and availability of the
questionnaires were evaluated by Cronbach′s α coefficient and KMO test. The associated factors were analyzed by Pearson χ 2 test and
logistic regression.
Results:
In
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the whole
level of health literacy of COVID-19 was 85.7%, and their scores were (26.30±2.48).
Knowledge,
attitude, and behavioral
literacy levels were 61.6%, 95.6%, and 96.8%, respectively. Compared with the
population of 15-25 years old, the
health literacy level of 46-65 years old was the highest ( OR=2.00, 95% CI 1.78-2.24). The
health literacy level of
medical staff group ( OR=2.54, 95% CI 1.30-4.95) was far higher than the non-
medical staff group; the
population with college or above
education level ( OR=10.22, 95% CI 9.19-11.36) was significantly higher than the
population with
education level below college. The degree of
anxiety was negatively correlated with
education level.
Conclusions:
The
health literacy level of COVID-19 in residents in
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is relatively high, but the level of
knowledge literacy needs to be improved. The main factors affecting the
health literacy of COVID-19 among
Inner Mongolia residents are age,
occupation and
education level.