Health Literacy Regarding Infectious Disease Predicts COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors: A Pathway Analysis.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Wang H
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8414827 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Health Literacy Regarding Infectious Disease Predicts COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors: A Pathway Analysis.
Wang Hui H Cheong Pak Leng PL Wu JianWei J Van Iat Kio IK
Asia-Pacific journal of public health 20210503 5
Health literacy has been identified as one vital determinant of public health and healthy behaviors, but very few studies regarding infectious disease prevention have been found. This descriptive cross-sectional study aimed to validate the pathway of infectious disease-specific health literacy (IDSHL), COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) preventive behaviors, and their determinants. A sample of 1459 casino workers in Macao was eligible for analysis. The concept model was verified with a comparat ...[more]
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Project description:Assessing individuals' knowledge and preventive behaviors towards the Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) is essential for the related public health surveillance strategies. Although some of the studies were conducted in Bangladesh, none of these studies considered the geographical distribution of knowledge and preventive behaviors towards COVID-19. Therefore, the present nationwide cross-sectional study with 10,067 samples for the first-time aims to assess the knowledge gap by presenting the geographical distribution of the COVID-19 knowledge and preventive behaviors across all administrative districts of Bangladesh. The measures included socio-demographics and questions about knowledge and preventive behaviors related to COVID-19. One-way ANOVA, independent t-test, and multiple linear regression were used to analyze the data. In addition, GIS-based mapping identified district-wise distribution of the outcomes. Results indicated that the overall mean score of knowledge related to COVID-19 was 14.363 ± 3.073, whereas 16.95 ± 2.89 was for preventive behaviors. Participants' being male, being divorced or widowed, consuming alcohol, smoking cigarettes, living in villages, and having no formal education reported lower performing preventive COVID-19 behaviors. Those participants with higher knowledge scores reported higher preventive COVID-19 behaviors (β = 0.053, p<0.001). However, the model predicted only 13.2% of the variation in preventive COVID-19 behaviors while the overall model being significant. The findings suggest that the Bangladeshi government should initiate appropriate far-reaching program of health education focusing on knowledge and preventive behaviors towards COVID-19 at a community level. After all, the strategies to combat COVID-19 will require individuals' involvement to control and prevent the disease outbreak, for which education is essential.
| S-EPMC8092662 | biostudies-literature
Project description:People with pre-existing health conditions (PEHC) are vulnerable to viral infection while health literacy (HL) and preventive behaviors (PB) have been shown to benefit people during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study was to examine the association between PEHC and suspected COVID-19 symptoms (S-COVID-19-S), and to investigate the modification effect of HL and PB. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 8291 participants visiting outpatient departments at 18 hospitals and health centers across Vietnam from 14 February to 31 May 2020. Data were collected regarding participant's characteristics, HL, PB, PEHC, and S-COVID-19-S. Regression models were used for analyzing the associations. Results showed that people with PEHC had a 3.38 times higher likelihood of having S-COVID-19-S (odds ratio, OR, 3.38; 95% confidence interval, 95% CI, 3.01, 3.79; p < 0.001). In comparison to participants without PEHC and with the lowest HL score, those with PEHC and one HL score increment had a 7% lower likelihood of having S-COVID-19-S (OR, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.92, 0.94; p < 0.001). In comparison to participants without PEHC and not adhering to mask wearing, those with PEHC and adhering to mask wearing had a 77% lower likelihood of having S-COVID-19-S (OR, 0.23; 95% CI, 0.16, 0.32; p < 0.001). Higher HL and adherence to mask wearing can protect people from having S-COVID-19-S, especially in those with PEHC.
| S-EPMC7699410 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundHealth literacy is important for the prevention of COVID-19 transmission. Research in Japan shows that health literacy is related to skills in evaluating information and decision-making (skills that are not necessarily limited to information about health). Such basic skills are important, particularly when individuals encounter new health issues for which there is insufficient evidence.ObjectiveWe aimed to determine the extent to which COVID-19 preventive behaviors were associated with health literacy and skills in evaluating information and making decisions.MethodsA web-based questionnaire survey was conducted using a Japanese internet research company. The measures comprised 8 items on COVID-19 preventive behaviors, health literacy items (European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire), 5 items on information evaluation, and 4 items on decision-making process. Pearson correlations between these variables were calculated. Multivariable analyses were also conducted using the COVID-19 preventive behavior score as a dependent variable.ResultsA total of 3914 valid responses were received.COVID-19 preventive behaviors were significantly correlated with health literacy (r=0.23), information evaluation (r=0.24), and decision-making process (r=0.30). Standardized regression coefficients (health literacy: β=.11; information evaluation: β=.13; decision-making: β=.18) showed that decision-making process contributed the most.ConclusionsAlthough comprehensive health literacy is necessary for COVID-19 preventive behaviors, the skills to evaluate a wide range of information and to make appropriate decisions are no less important. Opportunities for people to acquire these skills should be available at all times.
| S-EPMC8822428 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundAn unintended consequence of COVID-19 quarantine preventive measures, is the increased prevalence of anxiety and depression. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between COVID-19 preventive behaviors and mental health conditions.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted using secondary data collected weekly from US adults aged 18 and older nationwide as part of the COVID-19 Household Impact Survey (CIS) from the University of Chicago. Logistic regression examined associations between COVID-19 preventive behaviors (wearing a face mask, washing or sanitizing hands, and keeping six-feet distance from those outside their household), mental health conditions (self-reporting feeling nervous, anxious, or on edge, feeling lonely, and feeling hopeless about the future and a history of a mental health condition) and demographic factors.ResultsMajority of study participants were under 60 years (62.2%), female (55.8%), and non-Hispanic White (72.2%). Overall, participants more likely to have followed all three COVID-19 measures were those who reported high psychological distress compared to those with low distress for feeling anxious (adj. OR 1.16, 95% CI: 1.06-1.28, p = 0.002), lonely (adj. OR 1.12, 95% CI: 1.02-1.23, p = 0.019) or hopeless (adj. OR 1.10, 95% CI: 1.00-1.21, p = 0.043) for more than a day during the past 7 days.ConclusionOur findings highlight that individuals with mental health conditions reported more psychological distress. Specifically, feeling depressed, anxious, lonely, and hopeless were triggered and exacerbated as a result of the pandemic and may have long-term effects on general well-being and productivity. Therefore, our findings have important implications on the need to include mental health promotion as part of pandemic response efforts. This includes developing policies and allocating funding so as to ensure sustainable mental health interventions and support, public and provider education on the importance of screening for mental health issues.
| S-EPMC10403101 | biostudies-literature
Project description:To combat the public health crisis of Covid-19, governments and public health officials have been asking individuals to substantially change their behaviours for prolonged periods of time. Are happier people more willing to comply with such measures? Using independent, large-scale surveys covering about 79,000 adult respondents across 29 countries, including longitudinal data from the UK, we find that life satisfaction predicts compliance with preventive health behaviours during Covid-19 lockdowns, especially the number of weekdays stood at home (β = 0.02, p < 0.01). The association is stronger for higher levels of life satisfaction (e.g. β = 0.19, p < 0.01, 7 on a 0-to-10 scale). Lower life satisfaction, on the contrary, predicts lower compliance (e.g. β = 0.02, p > 0.10, 2 on a 0-to-10 scale). We explore risk-avoidance and pro-social motivations for this relationship, and find suggestive evidence that people who are older or have certain medical preconditions seem to be behave in line with risk-avoidance, whereas motivations of people who are less at risk of Covid-19 seem more mixed. While it is difficult to estimate the relationship between life satisfaction and compliance behaviour due to potential confounders and unobserved heterogeneity, our findings suggest that life satisfaction is important, both for complying with preventive health measures and as a policy end in itself.
| S-EPMC10189679 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Following the COVID-19 pandemic, disease prevention and preventive behaviors have become crucial for public health. In young adults, the internet is a popular source of health information. However, research that explores the factors associated with disease preventive behaviors based on the eHealth literacy (eHL) and the Health Belief Model (HBM) in young adults is lacking. A cross-sectional study design was used. Snowball sampling was used to recruit the participants through social network services. Proportionate stratified sampling was applied according to age, sex, and education level to mitigate sampling bias. The URL link for the online survey was provided via their mobile phones. A total of 324 participants, aged 20 to 39, completed the structured questionnaires (response rate = 98.2%). Frequency and descriptive statistical analyses, independent t-tests, one-way analyses of variance, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and multiple linear regression analyses were performed. Factors associated with COVID-19 preventive behaviors were COVID-19-related eHL (β = .376, P < .001) and self-efficacy (β = .221, P < .001), which were positively associated with COVID-19 preventive behaviors. Boosting self-efficacy and the ability to find, evaluate, and apply health information with sufficient evidence from the Internet can improve COVID-19 preventive behaviors. The government and healthcare personnel should consider psychological factors such as self-efficacy when developing COVID-19 disease prevention behavioral guidelines for the Internet.
| S-EPMC10064177 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThere is no special instrument to measure skills-based health literacy where it concerns infectious respiratory diseases. This study aimed to explore and evaluate a new skills-based instrument on health literacy regarding respiratory infectious diseases.MethodsThis instrument was designed to measure not only an individual's reading and numeracy ability, but also their oral communication ability and their ability to use the internet to seek information. Sixteen stimuli materials were selected to enable measurement of the skills, which were sourced from the WHO, China CDC, and Chinese Center of Health Education. The information involved the distribution of epidemics, immunization programs, early symptoms, means of disease prevention, individual's preventative behavior, use of medications and thermometers, treatment plans and the location of hospitals. Multi-stage stratified cluster sampling was employed to collect participants. Psychometric properties were used to evaluate the reliability and validity of the instrument.ResultsThe overall degree of difficulty and discrimination of the instrument were 0.693 and 0.482 respectively. The instrument demonstrated good internal consistency reliability with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.864. As for validity, six factors were extracted from 30 items, which together explained 47.3% of the instrument's variance. And based on confirmatory factor analysis, the items were grouped into five subscales representing prose, document, quantitative, oral and internet based information seeking skills (χ(2) = 9.200, P>0.05, GFI = 0.998, TLI = 0.988, AGFI = 0.992, RMSEA = 0.028).ConclusionThe new instrument has good reliability and validity, and it could be used to assess the health literacy regarding respiratory infectious disease status of different groups.
| S-EPMC3665814 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, the internet has significantly spread information, providing people with knowledge and advice about health protection regarding COVID-19. While a previous study demonstrated that health and eHealth literacy are related to COVID-19 prevention behaviors, few studies have focused on the relationship between health literacy, eHealth literacy, and COVID-19-related health behaviors. The latter includes not only preventative behaviors but also conventional health behaviors.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to develop and verify a COVID-19-related health behavior questionnaire, explore its status and structure, and examine the associations between these behaviors and participants' health literacy and eHealth literacy.MethodsA snowball sampling method was adopted to recruit participants to complete anonymous cross-sectional questionnaire surveys online that assessed sociodemographic information, self-reported coronavirus knowledge, health literacy, eHealth literacy, and COVID-19-related health behaviors.ResultsOf 1873 college students who were recruited, 781 (41.7%) had adequate health literacy; the mean eHealth literacy score was 30.16 (SD 6.31). The COVID-19-related health behavior questionnaire presented a two-factor structure-COVID-19-specific precautionary behaviors and conventional health behaviors-with satisfactory fit indices and internal consistency (Cronbach α=.79). The mean score of COVID-19-related health behaviors was 53.77 (SD 8.03), and scores differed significantly (P<.05) with respect to residence, college year, academic major, family economic level, self-reported health status, having a family member or friend infected with coronavirus, and health literacy level. Linear regression analysis showed that health literacy and eHealth literacy were positively associated with COVID-19-specific precautionary behaviors (βhealth literacy=.149, βeHealth literacy=.368; P<.001) and conventional health behaviors (βhealth literacy=.219, βeHealth literacy=.277; P<.001).ConclusionsThe COVID-19-related health behavior questionnaire was a valid and reliable measure for assessing health behaviors during the pandemic. College students with higher health literacy and eHealth literacy can more actively adopt COVID-19-related health behaviors. Additionally, compared to health literacy, eHealth literacy is more closely related to COVID-19-related health behaviors. Public intervention measures based on health and eHealth literacy are required to promote COVID-19-related health behaviors during the pandemic, which may be helpful to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection among college students.
| S-EPMC8104003 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundeHealth literacy can potentially facilitate web-based information seeking and taking informed measures.ObjectiveThis study aimed to evaluate socioeconomic disparities in eHealth literacy and seeking of web-based information on COVID-19, and their associations with COVID-19 preventive behaviors.MethodsThe COVID-19 Health Information Survey (CoVHIns), using telephonic (n=500) and web-based surveys (n=1001), was conducted among adults in Hong Kong in April 2020. The Chinese eHealth literacy scale (eHEALS; score range 8-40) was used to measure eHealth literacy. COVID-19 preventive behaviors included wearing surgical masks, wearing fabric masks, washing hands, social distancing, and adding water or bleach to the household drainage system. Adjusted beta coefficients and the slope indices of inequality for the eHEALS score by socioeconomic status, adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for seeking of web-based information on COVID-19 by socioeconomic status, and aORs for the high adherence to preventive behaviors by the eHEALS score and seeking of web-based information on COVID-19 were calculated.ResultsThe mean eHEALS score was 26.10 (SD 7.70). Age was inversely associated with the eHEALS score, but education and personal income were positively associated with the eHEALS score and seeking of web-based information on COVID-19 (for all, P for trend<.05). Participants who sought web-based information on COVID-19 showed high adherence to the practice of wearing surgical masks (aOR 1.56, 95% CI 1.15-2.13), washing hands (aOR 1.33, 95% CI 1.05-1.71), social distancing (aOR 1.48, 95% CI 1.14-1.93), and adding water or bleach to the household drainage system (aOR 1.67, 95% CI 1.28-2.18). Those with the highest eHEALS score displayed high adherence to the practice of wearing surgical masks (aOR 3.84, 95% CI 1.63-9.05), washing hands (aOR 4.14, 95% CI 2.46-6.96), social distancing (aOR 2.25, 95% CI 1.39-3.65), and adding water or bleach to the household drainage system (aOR 1.94, 95% CI 1.19-3.16), compared to those with the lowest eHEALS score.ConclusionsChinese adults with a higher socioeconomic status had higher eHealth literacy and sought more web-based information on COVID-19; both these factors were associated with a high adherence to the guidelines for preventive behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic.
| S-EPMC8048711 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe emergence of a new pandemic caused by a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is a unique challenge for public health (all age and sex groups).ObjectiveThis study aimed to explore the adolescents' perceptions of preventive behaviors to avoid COVID-19 disease based on the health belief model (HBM).MethodThis cross-sectional study was conducted on 797adolescents (aged between 12 and 18 years old), who were 7th-12th -grade students of 24 randomly selected schools from 28th May to June 28, 2020 in Isfahan, Iran. An online self-administered questionnaire was adapted to measure the adolescents' perceived threats, barriers, benefits, self-efficacy, and cues to action toward protective behaviors.ResultsFindings indicated that the adolescents' mean age was 14.7 (SD = 1.7) and 53.7% of them were female. Regardless of gender difference, there was a significant positive correlation between the adolescents' protective behaviors and their self-efficacy (r = 0.62, P < 0.001), perceived benefit (r = 29, P < 0.001), and perceived severity (r = 0.15, P < 0.001), while there was a significant negative correlation between the adolescents' protective behaviors and their perceived susceptibility (r = -0.11, P < 0.001), as well as their perceived barrier (r = -0.21, P < 0.001). The result of the Hierarchical regression analysis also revealed that the HBM model had a significant predictive power for preventing measures towards coronavirus disease in adolescents (Adj R2 = 0.46, p < 0.001). The results also showed that self-efficacy was the strongest predictor (β = 0.59, P < 0.001) in explaining protective behaviors in adolescents.ConclusionIn the context of coronavirus disease pandemic in adolescents, the health belief model could provide a useful framework for planners to develop educational programs. Moreover, in such a context, strategies to promote self-efficacy in adolescents should be considered more carefully to help them improve their protective behaviors.
| S-EPMC7857029 | biostudies-literature