Gatulytė Ieva, Verdiņa Valērija, Vārpiņa Zane, Lublóy Ágnes
Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Riga, Latvia.
Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary.
Arch Public Health. 2022 Jul 11;80(1):166. doi: 10.1186/s13690-022-00886-3.
Measuring and understanding the level of health literacy serves as a starting point for developing various policies in health care. The consequences of weak health literacy competencies are severe; they result in riskier health behaviour, poorer health status, more frequent emergency visits and hospitalizations. This research has three aims: i) measure the level of health literacy in the populations of Latvia and Lithuania; ii) investigate which demographic and socioeconomic determinants are associated with it; and iii) discuss the means of improving its current level.
We employ a validated survey tool, the 47-item European Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLS-EU-Q). In addition to the 47 questions in the domains of health care, disease prevention, and health promotion, the participants' demographic and socioeconomic characteristics are assessed. Face-to-face paper-assisted surveys are conducted with randomly selected residents from Latvia and Lithuania. The level of health literacy is measured by the health literacy index. Spearman correlation analyses and multiple regressions models are employed for investigating the association between the health literacy level and its determinants. The survey tool is complemented with in-depth interviews with six healthcare industry experts in order to assess the most promising ways to improve the level of health literacy.
The stratified random sampling with quota elements assured a representative sample in terms of gender, urban/rural distribution and regions. In Latvia, 79% of the population possesses weak health literacy competencies. In Lithuania, 73% of the population can be characterized with inadequate or problematic level of health literacy. The most important determinants of the health literacy level include age, financial situation, social status, and ethnicity. In particular, elderly (aged 76 and over) and the Latvian-speaking population are less health literate, while those having better financial situation and higher social status are more health literate. The three most promising ways to improve the level of health literacy, as suggested by the healthcare industry experts, include health education in schools, provision of structured health-related information in Latvian and Lithuanian, and guidelines for the most common health problems.
The proportion of population with inadequate or problematic level of health literacy is higher in Latvia and Lithuania than in several other European countries. There is an urgent need to develop policies to improve it.
衡量和理解健康素养水平是制定医疗保健领域各项政策的出发点。健康素养能力薄弱的后果很严重，会导致更具风险的健康行为、更差的健康状况、更频繁的急诊就诊和住院。本研究有三个目标：i）测量拉脱维亚和立陶宛人口的健康素养水平；ii）调查哪些人口统计学和社会经济决定因素与之相关；iii）讨论提高当前水平的方法。
我们采用经过验证的调查工具——47项欧洲健康素养问卷（HLS-EU-Q）。除了医疗保健、疾病预防和健康促进领域的47个问题外，还评估参与者的人口统计学和社会经济特征。对从拉脱维亚和立陶宛随机选取的居民进行面对面纸质辅助调查。健康素养水平通过健康素养指数来衡量。采用斯皮尔曼相关性分析和多元回归模型来研究健康素养水平与其决定因素之间的关联。该调查工具辅以对六位医疗行业专家的深入访谈，以评估提高健康素养水平最有前景的方法。
带有配额因素的分层随机抽样确保了在性别、城乡分布和地区方面具有代表性的样本。在拉脱维亚，79%的人口健康素养能力薄弱。在立陶宛，73%的人口健康素养水平不足或存在问题。健康素养水平的最重要决定因素包括年龄、财务状况、社会地位和种族。特别是，老年人（76岁及以上）和讲拉脱维亚语的人口健康素养较低，而财务状况较好和社会地位较高的人健康素养较高。医疗行业专家提出的提高健康素养水平的三种最有前景的方法包括学校健康教育、用拉脱维亚语和立陶宛语提供结构化的健康相关信息，以及针对最常见健康问题的指南。
拉脱维亚和立陶宛健康素养水平不足或存在问题的人口比例高于其他几个欧洲国家。迫切需要制定政策来改善这一状况。
