Westmead Hospital, Western Sydney Local Health District, Sydney, Australia.
Sydney Health Literacy Lab, Sydney School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Health Promot J Austr. 2022 Jan;33(1):83-90. doi: 10.1002/hpja.456. Epub 2021 Jan 31.
Low health literacy disproportionately affects adults from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. This study investigated the health literacy of adults attending outpatient allied health services in western Sydney, a highly diverse region in Sydney with residents from a range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
A cross-sectional survey was undertaken between March and April 2017 using the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ). Participants, aged over 18 years and with a primary language of English, Arabic, Chinese or Hindi, were recruited from outpatient allied health clinics at Westmead Hospital. Means (standard deviation) for each of the nine HLQ domains were calculated and associations with demographic variables were investigated using analysis of variance (ANOVA).
Two hundred and thirty people were included with mean age of 45.1 years (SD = 19.0), the majority were female (75.5%), over half were born overseas (55.7%) and 77.6% reported speaking English at home. The highest mean score on a HLQ domain (out of 5) was "Understanding health information well enough to know what to do" (M = 4.19; SD = 0.67), and the lowest mean score (out of 4) was "Appraisal of health information" (M = 2.97; SD = 0.54). Participants who did not speak English at home had significantly lower scores on seven of the nine HLQ domains.
Important health literacy strengths and limitations of a diverse sample of adults attending outpatient allied health services in western Sydney were identified. Findings should be considered in the light of the cross-sectional survey methodology with non-random sampling.
Data will inform future interventions to improve health literacy and health outcomes among vulnerable population groups in western Sydney.
健康素养低会不成比例地影响来自文化和语言多样化背景的成年人。本研究调查了在悉尼一个文化和语言背景多样的高度多样化地区——西悉尼的门诊联合健康服务机构就诊的成年人的健康素养。
2017 年 3 月至 4 月期间，使用健康素养问卷（HLQ）进行了横断面调查。从 Westmead 医院的门诊联合健康诊所招募了年龄在 18 岁以上且主要语言为英语、阿拉伯语、中文或印地语的参与者。计算了 HLQ 的九个领域的每个领域的平均值（标准差），并使用方差分析（ANOVA）调查了与人口统计学变量的关联。
共有 230 人入组，平均年龄为 45.1 岁（标准差=19.0），大多数为女性（75.5%），超过一半的人（55.7%）出生在海外，77.6%的人在家说英语。HLQ 中得分最高的领域（五分制）是“足够理解健康信息以了解该做什么”（M=4.19；SD=0.67），得分最低的领域（四分制）是“健康信息评价”（M=2.97；SD=0.54）。在家不说英语的参与者在 HLQ 的九个领域中的七个领域的得分显著较低。
本研究确定了在悉尼西部门诊联合健康服务机构就诊的多样化成年人的重要健康素养优势和局限性。由于采用了非随机抽样的横断面调查方法，因此应该结合这些发现进行考虑。
数据将为未来在悉尼西部改善弱势人群的健康素养和健康结果的干预措施提供信息。
