Development of health literacy among postgraduate students: From information literacy perspective
نویسندگان
1 Department of Health Information Management, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
2 Department of Health Information Technology and Management, School of Public Health, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran
3
4 Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran
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چکیده
OBJECTIVES: Involving the patients in health‑related decisions requires high health literacy. Healthliteracy is related to the concept of information literacy through its emphasis on information skills.Hence, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between information literacy andhealth literacy.STUDY DESIGN: We carried out an original research.MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is an applied research that is carried out in a survey method.The statistical population of this study is MSc and PhD students at School of Health Managementand Information Science in Iran University of Medical Sciences who were selected by stratifiedrandom sampling. A standard health literacy questionnaire including access dimensions, readingskills, comprehension, evaluation, decision‑making, and application of health information was used toassess the health literacy status of the students. To measure information literacy, the questionnaireincludes identifying information needs, locating information, organizing information, and evaluatinginformation were used. The data were analyzed by tests of one‑sample t‑test, Pearson correlation,and simple linear regression with spss software version 18 produced by IBM located at New York.RESULTS: The results showed that the level of information literacy among students was higherthan the average level. The average of information literacy rate in the sample is 49.09. In thisregard, the most frequent information is gained from the internet, interacting with friends, and askingpractitioners and health workers. In addition, there is a positive and significant relationship betweenall dimensions of information literacy with health literacy and information literacy affects 35.4% ofhealth literacy changes.CONCLUSIONS: It can be said that information literacy is a predictor of health literacy. Furthermore,the pattern of people’s health information has moved to new information environments and to improvehealth having sufficient information seeking and information literacy skills are essential.
