Functional Health Literacy Among Chinese Populations and Associated Factors: Latent Class Analysis

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Literacy Research
• Sociomedical Sciences

Background:

• Poor functional health literacy is linked to adverse health outcomes and increased healthcare utilization.
• Assessing functional health literacy in the Chinese population is essential but previously unstudied.
• This research addresses the gap in understanding functional health literacy within China.

Purpose of the Study:

• To classify Chinese populations into distinct functional health literacy clusters.
• To identify key factors associated with low functional health literacy.
• To inform health education, medical research, and public health policy.

Main Methods:

• A questionnaire assessed demographics, self-assessed disease knowledge, health literacy using validated tools (All Aspects of Health Literacy Scale, eHealth Literacy Scale, General Health Numeracy Test), and health beliefs (Multidimensional Health Locus of Control).
• Latent class analysis was employed to categorize participants into functional health literacy groups.
• Random sampling from Qilu Hospital, Shandong University, China, ensured a representative sample of 800 participants.

Main Results:

• Latent class analysis identified three functional health literacy groups: low (36.5%), moderate-to-adequate (35.7%), and low-to-moderate (27.8%).
• Five factors significantly associated with low functional health literacy were identified: male gender (aged 40-49), lower educational attainment (below diploma), age (38-68 years), lower self-efficacy, and a belief that health is determined by luck.

Conclusions:

• The study successfully classified the Chinese population into three distinct functional health literacy groups.
• Key demographic and psychosocial factors influencing low functional health literacy were identified.
• Findings provide critical insights for developing targeted health education strategies and public health policies in China.