Division of Nursing, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institute, Box 23 300, 141 83, Huddinge, Sweden.
Department of Perioperative Medicine and Intensive Care, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
BMC Public Health. 2021 Nov 25;21(1):2165. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-12187-5.
Health inequities arise when the public cannot access and understand health information in an easy, accessible, and understandable way. Evidence supports that health literacy (HL) is a determinant for health outcomes, and when HL is limited this may have a major impact on morbidity as well as mortality. Migrants are known to have limited HL. Therefore, this study aimed to explore comprehensive health literacy (CHL) and electronic health literacy (eHL) among Arabic-speaking migrants in Sweden.
This was a cross-sectional observational study conducted in Sweden. A total of 703 persons were invited to participate between February and September 2019. Two questionnaires - the Health Literacy Survey European Questionnaire (HLS-EU-Q16) and the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS) - and questions about self-perceived health and Internet use were distributed in Swedish and Arabic. Various statistical analyses were performed to determine the associations for limited CHL and eHL.
A total of 681 respondents were included in the analysis. Of these, 334 (49%) were native Arabic-speaking migrants and 347 (51%) were native Swedish-speaking residents. CHL and eHL differed between the groups. The Arabic speakers had significantly lower mean sum scores in eHL 28.1 (SD 6.1) vs 29.3 (6.2), p = 0.012 and lower proportion of sufficient CHL 125 (38.9%) vs 239 (71.3%), p < 0.001 compared to Swedish speakers. Multiple regression analysis showed on associations between limited CHL and eHL and being Arabic speaking, less Internet use, and not finding the Internet to be important or useful. Furthermore, longer time spent in Sweden was associated with higher levels of CHL among the Arabic speakers, (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.91-0.98, p < 0.01).
CHL and eHL differ between Arabic-speaking migrants and native Swedish speakers, but also between Arabic speakers who have lived different lengths of time in Sweden. Though it seems that the eHealth literacy is less affected by language spoken, the Internet is suggested to be an appropriate channel for disseminating health information to Arabic-speaking migrants.
当公众无法以简单、可及和易懂的方式获取和理解健康信息时，就会出现健康不平等现象。有证据表明，健康素养（HL）是健康结果的决定因素，当 HL 有限时，这可能会对发病率和死亡率产生重大影响。众所周知，移民的 HL 有限。因此，本研究旨在探讨瑞典讲阿拉伯语的移民的综合健康素养（CHL）和电子健康素养（eHL）。
这是一项在瑞典进行的横断面观察性研究。2019 年 2 月至 9 月期间共邀请了 703 人参加。共发放了两份问卷 - 健康素养调查欧洲问卷（HLS-EU-Q16）和电子健康素养量表（eHEALS） - 以及关于自我感知健康和互联网使用的问题，问卷有瑞典语和阿拉伯语两种语言。进行了各种统计分析以确定有限的 CHL 和 eHL 的关联。
共有 681 名受访者纳入分析。其中，334 名（49%）是母语为阿拉伯语的移民，347 名（51%）是母语为瑞典语的居民。CHL 和 eHL 在两组之间存在差异。讲阿拉伯语的人的 eHL 平均总分明显较低，分别为 28.1（SD 6.1）和 29.3（6.2），p=0.012，且足够的 CHL 比例较低，分别为 125（38.9%）和 239（71.3%），p<0.001。多元回归分析显示，有限的 CHL 和 eHL 与讲阿拉伯语、较少使用互联网以及认为互联网不重要或无用有关。此外，在瑞典居住的时间与阿拉伯语使用者的 CHL 水平呈正相关（OR 0.94，95% CI 0.91-0.98，p<0.01）。
讲阿拉伯语的移民和母语为瑞典语的居民之间的 CHL 和 eHL 存在差异，但在在瑞典居住时间不同的阿拉伯语使用者之间也存在差异。尽管电子健康素养似乎较少受到所讲语言的影响，但互联网被认为是向讲阿拉伯语的移民传播健康信息的合适渠道。
