BACKGROUND

How the willingness to acquire infectious-disease-specific health literacy (IDSHL) can be promoted is unknown among community residents. Community residents' willingness to acquire IDSHL (CRWAI) and its impact on health status is a multifaceted phenomenon that encompasses many factors, including socio-demographic characteristics, cognition, attitude, health behavior, perceived-efficacy, and knowledge needs related to infectious diseases. Early identification of associated-factors for CRWAI is essential. The objective of this research is to construct analytical models and examine the influencing factors relevant to CRWAI.

METHODS

In this multi-center cross-sectional study, we included 3,921 subjects from Hangzhou City using the method of stratified cluster sampling. We applied a structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the factors that affect the CRWAI.

RESULTS

The findings from the SEM indicated that socio-demographic factors (SDF) (β =0.017, p =0.021), infectious disease cognition (IDC) (β =0.105, p <0.001), infectious disease perceived-efficacy (IDPE) (β =0.109, p <0.001), and infectious disease knowledge needs (IDKN) (β =0.097, p <0.001) was positively correlated with CRWAI. There was no significant association between the attitude and health behavior regarding infectious disease and CRWAI (p>0.05). The results indicated that IDC and IDKN served as mediators in the connection between SDF and CRWAI. Moreover, it was found that IDPE played a mediating part in the relationship of IDC and CRWAI. IDKN functioned as a mediator in the link between IDPE and CRWAI.

CONCLUSION

Our findings have indicated potential mechanistic pathways and intervention targets for CRWAI. We have introduced the SEM to analyze the CRWAI. Given that SDF, IDC, IDPE, and IDKN demonstrate direct and interactive associations with CRWAI, strategic interventions targeting these determinants are critical for enhancing population health outcomes in community settings.