Sociodemographic Factors Associated with Health Literacy in General Population: A Systematic Review

Document Type : Systematic Review

Authors

1 Professor, Health Research Center, Life Style Institute, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences Tehran, Iran.

2 Health Education Department, Faculty of Health, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

3 Professor, Department of Health Promotion, Iranian Academy of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

4 Associate Professor, Health Management Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences Tehran, Iran.

5 Associate Professor, Health Research Center, Life Style Institute, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences Tehran, Iran.

6 Professor, Health Management Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences Tehran, Iran.

7 Professor, Institute of Allied Health Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.

8 Biostatistics Consulting Center, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Health literacy is a crucial indicator of health status; making it essential to identify the factors associated with it. Doing so may offer healthcare providers valuable insights for planning appropriate interventions to enhance health literacy. This study aimed at evaluating the sociodemographic factors related to health literacy worldwide. 

Materials and Methods: This systematic review was conducted according to a five-stage approach including designing a research question, identifying relevant evidence, quality assessment of retrieved evidence, preparing a summary of included evidence, and interpretation of the findings. The preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis guideline (PRISMA) was utilized to locate relevant evidence and produce valuable results. Six national and international scientific databases including SID, Magiran, PubMed, Medline, Scopus, and Google Scholar were assessed applying inclusion criteria such as being a cross-sectional study, having a sample size more than 500 people, study on general population and wrote in English/ Persian; and using keywords including health literacy, determinants and factors. Qualified studies were examined through Joanna Briggs Institute checklist for cross-sectional studies and EndNote software was used to screen data.

Results: Overall, 5739 records from different databases were obtained. After removing duplicates and screening the articles, 283 studies were identified appropriate for full-text assessment. After examination of shortlisted studies, finally 32 articles were included in the qualitative synthesis, of them 27 items were at international level and the remaining were national studies, encompassing a total of 217933 individuals. On average, 53% of participants at the international level and 59% at national level were identified with inadequate health literacy. Common factors associated with inadequate health literacy were: male gender, older age, low education, unemployment, being single, and living in rural areas, whereas among the national studies factors such as older age, male gender and low education were more frequent. 

Conclusion: In general, sociodemographic factors such as male gender, older age, low education, unemployment, being single and living in rural areas were commonly linked to inadequate health literacy both at the international and national levels. Therefore, developing proper interventions to improve health literacy targeting high risk groups such as older males, people with low education, unemployed individuals and single people should be addressed. 

Keywords

Acknowledgments: The authors would like to express their thanks to Clinical Research Development Unit of Baqiyatallah Hospital for providing methodological comments on this review. 


Availability of data and materials: The data supporting the study's findings are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. 


Conflicts of interest: There is no conflicts of interest to declare. 


Consent for publication: Not applicable.


Ethics approval and consent to participate: This study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and ethically approved and registered with the Iranian Academy of Medical Sciences under ID# IR.AMS.REC.1402.020.  


Funding: This study was supported by a grant from Iranian Academy of Medical Sciences. 


Authors’ contribution: MS, HS, and RZ were involved in conceptualizing and preparing the research proposal, as well as in all stages of the systematic review. FR and AA contributed to the critical review of the included studies and assisted in preparing the findings. CYL helped with writing the manuscript and provided critical feedback. Additionally, CYL assisted in preparing a rebuttal letter and revising the manuscript. All authors reviewed the manuscript thoroughly and were satisfied with the content.

 

Open Access Policy: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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