The Antecedents and Consequences of Health Literacy in an Ecological Perspective: Results from an Experimental Analysis

Chiara Lorini, Francesca Ierardi, Letizia Bachini, Martina Donzellini, Fabrizio Gemmi and Guglielmo Bonaccorsi
Additional contact information
Chiara Lorini: Department of Health Science, University of Florence, Viale GB Morgagni 48, 50134 Firenze, Italy
Francesca Ierardi: Quality and Equity Unit, Regional Health Agency of Tuscany, 50141 Florence, Italy
Letizia Bachini: Quality and Equity Unit, Regional Health Agency of Tuscany, 50141 Florence, Italy
Martina Donzellini: School of Specialization in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy
Fabrizio Gemmi: Quality and Equity Unit, Regional Health Agency of Tuscany, 50141 Florence, Italy
Guglielmo Bonaccorsi: Department of Health Science, University of Florence, Viale GB Morgagni 48, 50134 Firenze, Italy

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: This study analyses the relationship between the antecedents and consequences of health literacy (HL) at the ecological level among the nations involved in the European Health Literacy Survey (HLS-EU). The antecedents and consequences were investigated by means of proxy indicators. The HL was measured using the 47-item HLS-EU questionnaire (HLS-EUQ47) and the Newest Vital Sign (NVS). The two measures stood in significant correlation to the outcomes of the sub-discipline of the Euro Health Consumer Index (r = 0.790 for HLS-EUQ47; r = 0.789 for NVS). The HLS-EUQ47 also stood in correlation to the percentage of population with post-secondary education (r = 0.810), the reading performance for 15-year-old students (r = 0.905), the presence of a national screening program for breast (r = 0.732) or cervical cancer (r = 0.873). The NVS stood in correlation with the unemployment rate (r = −0.778), the Gross Domestic Product (r = 0.719), the Gini coefficient (r = −0.743), the rank of the Euro Patient Empowerment Index (r = −0.826), the expenditure on social protection (r = 0.814), the Consumer Empowerment Index (r = 0.898), the percentage of adults using the internet for seeking health information (r = 0.759), the prevalence of overweight individuals (r = −0.843), the health expenditure (r = 0.766), as well as the percentage of individuals using the internet for interacting with public authorities (r = 0.755). This study provides some preliminary considerations regarding alternative means by which to study HL and proposes new methods for experimentation. The methods and the results could offer a means by which the relationship between society and overall healthcare protection could be strengthened.

Keywords: health literacy; ecological study; antecedents; consequences; determinants of health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/4/798/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/4/798/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:4:p:798-:d:142018

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().