Background/problem: Health literacy and adopting healthy behaviors are essential components for university staff to sustain their well-being, improve productivity, avert illness, and cultivate a supportive, health-oriented workplace atmosphere. Objective/purpose: This study seeks to investigate the causal determinants influencing the health literacy and health behavior of staff at universities in Thailand. Design and Methodology: Cluster sampling was employed, using a quantitative research design, involving 320 university personnel in Thailand. The research tools used were questionnaires. Data analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics and component-based structural equation modeling. Results: Results of the study demonstrated that 1) health empowerment positively effects both health literacy (β = .60, p < .001) and health behavior (β = .39, p < .001); 2) social support has a positive effect on health literacy (β= .28, p < .001) and health behavior (β = .11, p = .04), and 3) health literacy positively effects on health behavior (β = .38, p < .001). The factor loadings of all observed variables were significantly different from zero at a statistical significance. Health empowerment and health literacy exhibit a statistically significant indirect effect on health behavior through health literacy (β = .23, p < .001), suggesting that health literacy serves as a partial mediator. Conclusion and Implications: This study highlights the effect of health literacy on health behavior and finds that health empowerment is a crucial factor in promoting health behavior. Recommendations from this research suggest promoting health literacy and empowering university staff to effectively use health information to make informed decisions.
Chantaranamchoo et al. (Fri,) studied this question.