Student Research Committee, Jiroft University of Medical Sciences, Jiroft, Iran.
Health and Wellness Research Group, Department of Family Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates.
Brain Behav. 2022 May;12(5):e2586. doi: 10.1002/brb3.2586. Epub 2022 Apr 16.
The coronavirus disease of the 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created a sense of fear due to uncertainties in medical students' personal and professional lives. Medical education is challenging and poses a more significant academic and emotional rigor when compared with other professional programs. With the COVID-19 having limited treatment options, health literacy (HL) is crucial for managing and responding to the pandemic. This research aims to examine the impact of HL on COVID-19-associated fear among Iranian medical students.
A cross-sectional study was conducted measuring the HL and fear of COVID-19 using validated scales. Two hundred and seventy-eight survey responses were received and analyzed descriptively by using SPSS software inferential statistics.
Mean age of participants was 22.93 ± 5.427 years. The correlation between students' total health literacy (HELIA) scores and their fear of COVID-19 (FCV-19S) scores was -0.279 (p value = .019). The FCV-19S has a negative correlation with total HELIA in the group of females and males, single and married people, bachelor and MD students, and students living in rural areas and urban areas. The negative correlation of FCV-19S with total HELIA in males and students who reside in rural areas was the only one that was not significant. In associate degree students, the correlation between FCV-19S and total HELIA was positive but not significant. Education grades had a significant impact on FCV-19S. Furthermore, the place of residence also had a significant impact on FCV-19S. However, the gender and marital status did not significantly impact FCV-19S.
The present study showed that students with higher HL scores had lesser fear of COVID-19. The key stakeholders require several positive strategies to reduce fear and improve health, and such vital policies will assist in improving the students' health and achieving the sustainable developmental goals.
2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行给医学生的个人和职业生活带来了不确定性，由此产生了恐惧。与其他专业课程相比，医学教育具有挑战性，并且对学术和情感提出了更大的要求。由于 COVID-19 的治疗方法有限，因此健康素养（HL）对于管理和应对大流行至关重要。本研究旨在检验 HL 对伊朗医学生 COVID-19 相关恐惧的影响。
采用横断面研究，使用经过验证的量表测量 HL 和对 COVID-19 的恐惧。共收到 278 份调查回复，并使用 SPSS 软件进行推断统计描述性分析。
参与者的平均年龄为 22.93±5.427 岁。学生的总体健康素养（HELIA）得分与其对 COVID-19 的恐惧（FCV-19S）得分之间呈负相关（p 值=0.019）。在女性和男性、单身和已婚人士、学士和 MD 学生以及居住在农村和城市地区的学生中，FCV-19S 与总 HELIA 呈负相关。男性和居住在农村地区的学生中，FCV-19S 与总 HELIA 的负相关不显著。在大专生中，FCV-19S 与总 HELIA 之间的相关性为正，但不显著。教育成绩对 FCV-19S 有显著影响。此外，居住地也对 FCV-19S 有显著影响。但是，性别和婚姻状况对 FCV-19S 没有显著影响。
本研究表明，HL 得分较高的学生对 COVID-19 的恐惧较小。主要利益相关者需要采取一些积极的策略来减少恐惧并改善健康状况，这些重要的政策将有助于改善学生的健康状况并实现可持续发展目标。
