Naveed MA, Shaukat R. Health literacy predicts Covid-19 awareness and protective behaviours of university students.
Health Info Libr J 2021;
39:46-58. [PMID:
34595814 PMCID:
PMC8646606 DOI:
10.1111/hir.12404]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2020] [Revised: 06/29/2021] [Accepted: 08/03/2021] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Background
Health literacy is expected to help individuals deal with the required infection control and knowledge to cope with the COVID‐19 pandemic.
Objectives
This study examined the impact of health literacy on Covid‐19 awareness and protective behaviours of university students in Pakistan.
Methods
An online questionnaire was used to collect data from students at three universities in Punjab. The approved questionnaire contained 12 statements related to HL, 21 items towards Covid‐19 awareness, and 11 statements related to protective behaviours, along with some demographic data. Data analysis used Pearson correlation and simple linear regression.
Results
Health literacy of university students positively predicted their Covid‐19 awareness and protective behaviours indicating that students with high health literacy were likely to be more aware of Covid‐19 and adopt health protective behaviours. There were gender and rural/urban differences.
Conclusions
The results demonstrated an urgent need for planning a needs‐based health literacy programme focusing specifically on Covid‐19 literacy in Pakistan. This research might help policy‐makers, NGOs, and health librarians devise suitable programme.
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