Background: Health literacy (HL) plays a crucial role in how people make decisions in their daily living activities. Considering the critical role of HL among household health ambassadors (HAs) in promoting their health and that of their households, this study aimed to examine the HL of household HAs in Iran. Methods: In this HL survey, a number of 2183 household HAs from 18 cities of East Azarbaijan province was recruited to participate in the study. The data were collected applying the Health Literacy for Iranian Adults (HELIA) Questionnaire via an online link, which were then analyzed applying multivariate linear regression with enter method by using SPSS version 19. Results: The results revealed an average HL score of 14.96 (SD 3.21). Among the participants, approximately 8% 95% confidence interval (CI): 5.13-11.62 (n=174) exhibited poor HL, while 41.2% 95% CI: 37.45-51.32 (n=899) demonstrated moderate and 50.8% 95% CI: 42.87-59.23 (n=1109) achieved good levels of HL. Conclusion: Our findings emphasized the urgent need to assess and enhance the HL of household HAs in a developing country, like Iran. Notably, about half of participants exhibited poor or moderate levels of HL. This trend underscores the vital role that HAs play in promoting HL and facilitating individual self-care within their communities. To empower these ambassadors, it is crucial to implement innovative and targeted strategies that effectively boost their HL.
Reyhani et al. (Tue,) studied this question.