Coronavirus-Related Health Literacy: A Cross-Sectional Study in Adults during the COVID-19 Infodemic in Germany

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

TorstenMichael Bollweg¹  Klaus Hurrelmann²  Ullrich Bauer³  Orkan Okan⁴  Doris Schaeffer⁵  Eva-Maria Berens⁶ 

[1] Centre for Prevention and Intervention in Childhood and Adolescence, Faculty of Educational Science, Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany;Department of Public Health and Education, Hertie School of Governance, 10117 Berlin, Germany;Interdisciplinary Centre for Health Literacy Research, Centre for Prevention and Intervention in Childhood and Adolescence, Faculty of Educational Science, Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany;Interdisciplinary Centre for Health Literacy Research, Faculty of Educational Science, Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany;Interdisciplinary Centre for Health Literacy Research, School of Public Health, Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany;School of Public Health, Interdisciplinary Centre for Health Literacy Research, Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany;

关键词: health literacy;    infodemic;    survey;    coronavirus 2;    SARS-CoV-2;    COVID-19;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijerph17155503

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

There is an “infodemic” associated with the COVID-19 pandemic—an overabundance of valid and invalid information. Health literacy is the ability to access, understand, appraise, and apply health information, making it crucial for navigating coronavirus and COVID-19 information environments. A cross-sectional representative study of participants ≥ 16 years in Germany was conducted using an online survey. A coronavirus-related health literacy measure was developed (HLS-COVID-Q22). Internal consistency was very high (α = 0.940; ρ = 0.891) and construct validity suggests a sufficient model fit, making HLS-COVID-Q22 a feasible tool for assessing coronavirus-related health literacy in population surveys. While 49.9% of our sample had sufficient levels of coronavirus-related health literacy, 50.1% had “problematic” (15.2%) or “inadequate” (34.9%) levels. Although the overall level of health literacy is high, a vast number of participants report difficulties dealing with coronavirus and COVID-19 information. The participants felt well informed about coronavirus, but 47.8% reported having difficulties judging whether they could trust media information on COVID-19. Confusion about coronavirus information was significantly higher among those who had lower health literacy. This calls for targeted public information campaigns and promotion of population-based health literacy for better navigation of information environments during the infodemic, identification of disinformation, and decision-making based on reliable and trustworthy information.

【 授权许可】

Unknown