Back to Search Start Over

Recursive Path Model for Health Literacy: The Effect of Social Support and Geographical Residence

Authors :
Éva Bíró
Ferenc Vincze
Gabriella Mátyás
Karolina Kósa
Source :
Frontiers in Public Health, Vol 9 (2021)
Publication Year :
2021
Publisher :
Frontiers Media S.A., 2021.

Abstract

Background: The public health relevance of health literacy is highlighted by the fact that its higher levels can improve health outcomes and reduce health inequities. In order to design effective interventions for improving health literacy, the relationship between health literacy and other factors such as sociodemographic variables, subjective health and social support must be understood.Objective: Our aim was to test a socioecological model of the determinants of health literacy with a special focus on the effect of residence. Our study investigated geographical differences regarding the levels of health literacy and its determinants as this was not investigated before in European nationwide surveys.Methods: Data was collected by a polling company in a sample (n = 1,200) of the Hungarian adult population nationally representative by age, gender, and permanent residence in 2019 January. The questionnaire included items on sociodemographic data, subjective well-being, social support, and two health literacy scales. A recursive path model was used to outline the mediating effect of social support between sociodemographic variables and health literacy where both direct and indirect effects of the explanatory variables and multiple relationships among the variables were analyzed simultaneously. Multiple-group analysis was applied to the three pre-set categories of permanent residence (capital city, urban and rural).Results: There was no statistically significant difference by residence regarding levels of health literacy. Social support and educational attainment were the most important determinants of health literacy after adjusting for the effect of other sociodemographic variables. However, the magnitude of effect of social support and educational attainment is different between types of settlements, the strongest being in rural areas.Conclusion: Social support seems to mediate the effect of socioeconomic position on health literacy which could be taken into account when designing interventions to improve health literacy, especially in rural areas. Further studies would be needed especially in rural communities to see whether improvement of social support could be utilized in projects to increase the level of health literacy.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
22962565
Volume :
9
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Frontiers in Public Health
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.0142e5a77ea14632ba533fb0f3a7cdc5
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.724995