Ying Yuting, Jing Chunxia, Zhang Fan
Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Department of Epidemiology, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
Front Psychiatry. 2022 May 19;13:878884. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.878884. eCollection 2022.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic threatens people's health and well-being all around the world, resulting in increased stress and anxiety. Existing literature has found health literacy has a protective effect on health, and the study has taken a closer look at the effects of health literacy on perceived stress and anxiety among Chinese college students.
With structural questionnaires, a cross-sectional survey was conducted to collect the responses of 1,251 participants from different universities in Hubei and Guangdong, China. Participants' health literacy and perceived stress and anxiety symptoms were evaluated.
Only 11.83% of the participants reported sufficient health literacy. Compared with college students from Hubei and Guangdong with a major in medicine showed a higher percentage of having sufficient literacy. Moreover, having sufficient health literacy showed a protective effect in reducing the risk of stress (OR = 0.14, 95%CI= 0.01-0.04; < 0.001) and anxiety (OR = 0.02, 95%CI = 0-0.61; < 0.001).
Health literacy was found to have a protective effect in reducing anxiety and stress among college students. This effect has remained among students from different majors and locations. However, it is noteworthy that the overall level of health literacy is relatively low among college students, particularly among those from Hubei Province or with non-medical majors. Therefore, more effort should be put into developing health education programs promoting health literacy and mental health on campus.
冠状病毒（COVID - 19）大流行威胁着世界各地人们的健康和福祉，导致压力和焦虑增加。现有文献发现健康素养对健康有保护作用，本研究更深入地探讨了健康素养对中国大学生感知压力和焦虑的影响。
采用结构化问卷进行横断面调查，收集了来自中国湖北和广东不同大学的1251名参与者的回复。评估了参与者的健康素养以及感知到的压力和焦虑症状。
只有11.83%的参与者报告具备足够的健康素养。与湖北和广东的医学专业大学生相比，具备足够健康素养的比例更高。此外，具备足够的健康素养在降低压力风险（比值比=0.14，95%置信区间=0.01 - 0.04；<0.001）和焦虑风险（比值比=0.02，95%置信区间=0 - 0.61；<0.001）方面具有保护作用。
研究发现健康素养对减轻大学生的焦虑和压力具有保护作用。这种作用在不同专业和地区的学生中均存在。然而，值得注意的是，大学生的整体健康素养水平相对较低，特别是来自湖北省或非医学专业的学生。因此，应更加努力制定促进校园健康素养和心理健康的健康教育计划。
