Original articles
ZHANG Ling, ZHENG Chuan-fen, RONG Hong-hui, LU Lu, PENG Yi, CHEN Ji-an
Objective To find out about the current literacy level and awareness rate of health among recruits in a unit,and analyze the influencing factors so as to provide reference for formulating programs for health education and health promotion. Methods A total of 1846 recruits were surveyed via the China Citizen Health Literacy Questionnaire compiled by China Health Education Center in 2015,involving three dimensions--basic health knowledge and theory, healthy lifestyle and behavior, and fundamental skills and involving six types of problems--scientific health concepts,infectious disease prevention and treatment,chronic disease prevention and treatment,safety and first aid,basicmedical care, and health information. χ2 test and multivariate unconditional logistic regression analysis were used. Results The overall level of health literacy among these new recruits was 8.88%,the score of health literacy was 37.07±12.45,and the health literacy awareness rate was 60.56%. Among the three dimensions,the level of life-styles and behavior was the lowest,which was 10.18%. Among the six types of problems,the literacy level of chronic disease prevention and control was the lowest(9.75%). The awareness rate of health information was the lowest,which was 48.91%. There were 24 items(48% of the total) where the awareness rate was less than 60%. Among them,the awareness rate of the benefits of eating soybean was the lowest(9.53%),followed by descriptions of the liver(only 10.78%). Multiple Logistic regression analysis showed that the health literacy level of females was higher than that of males (OR=2.407,95%CI:1.430-4.054). Compared with urban areas, the health literacy level in rural areas was lower(OR=0.613,95%CI:0.436-0.862). The health literacy level of recruits with a college education and above was the highest (OR=1.799, 95%CI:1.216-2.664).And the health literacy level of mothers who were farmers was the lowest (OR=0.491, 95%CI:0.303-0.797). Conclusion The health literacy level of new recruits is low,especially regarding the prevention and treatment of diseases,suggesting that the military should make related knowledge more accessible to recruits and enforce health interventions.