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

Orkan Okan, Torsten Michael Bollweg, Eva-Maria Berens, Klaus Hurrelmann, Ullrich Bauer and Doris Schaeffer
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Orkan Okan: Interdisciplinary Centre for Health Literacy Research, Faculty of Educational Science, Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
Torsten Michael Bollweg: Centre for Prevention and Intervention in Childhood and Adolescence, Faculty of Educational Science, Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
Eva-Maria Berens: School of Public Health, Interdisciplinary Centre for Health Literacy Research, Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
Klaus Hurrelmann: Department of Public Health and Education, Hertie School of Governance, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Ullrich Bauer: Interdisciplinary Centre for Health Literacy Research, Centre for Prevention and Intervention in Childhood and Adolescence, Faculty of Educational Science, Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
Doris Schaeffer: Interdisciplinary Centre for Health Literacy Research, School of Public Health, Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 15, 1-20

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: health literacy; infodemic; survey; coronavirus 2; SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; Germany; adult population; HLS-EU-Q (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (28)

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