Health Literacy Level During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Western Region of Iran

Aim: This research was designed and implemented to measure the health literacy (HL) of adults in the western region of Iran during the COVID-19 pandemic. Background: HL is crucial for making informed health decisions. Despite the great importance of identifying individuals with inadequate HL, healthcare workers often perform poorly in this matter. This issue becomes even more important during the COVID-19 pandemic, when we are faced with an increasing volume of undocumented information and a rising impact of the disease on society. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 722 adults referred to health centers during the COVID-19 pandemic was conducted using a layered and multistage sampling method. Demographic information and the Iranian Health Literacy Assessment Questionnaire (HEILA) were collected and analyzed. Results: In this study, the mean HL score was 64.74±18.19. 21.4% of people had insufficient HL, 28.5% had not quite sufficient HL, 32.1% had adequate HL, and 18% had sufficient HL. The components of HL varied in the mean score, with understanding ability scoring highest at 73.46 ± 19.45 and evaluating health information scoring lowest at 55.26 ± 24. Conclusions: Totally, about half of the adult population (49.9%) has limited HL. The level of HL was related to age, education, occupation, marital status, and place of residence. It also showed that limited HL is more common in vulnerable sections of society, including people over 50, people with low education, and retirees.