The prevalence of low health literacy in undergraduate students in Pakistan |
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| Authors: | Aziz-ur Rehman PhD Salman Bin Naeem PhD Anthony Faiola PhD |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Library & Information Science, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan;2. Department of Health and Clinical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA |
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| Abstract: | This Regular Feature is based on a PhD study assessing the level of health literacy among university students in Pakistan. A cross-sectional survey was carried out using the validated European Health Literacy Survey (HLS-EU-Q) and non-parametric tests used to analyse data with the aim of determining the influence of personal determinants on health literacy skills. The findings of the study concluded that the population had a low health literacy level with limited skills in accessing, understanding, appraising and applying information for health care. Gender, age, and native languages, all had a statistically significant influence on health literacy skills. Practical implications are presented for the role of university libraries in supporting the development of health literacy in their undergraduate student populations are presented, including the need for the provision of health information in native languages. |
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| Keywords: | access to information Asia south health literacy higher education students |
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