IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v15y2018i4p798-d142018.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • 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)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Chiara Lorini & Francesca Ierardi & Letizia Bachini & Martina Donzellini & Fabrizio Gemmi & Guglielmo Bonaccorsi, 2018. "The Antecedents and Consequences of Health Literacy in an Ecological Perspective: Results from an Experimental Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-14, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:4:p:798-:d:142018
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/4/798/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/4/798/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Giuseppe Torre & Daniele Mipatrini, 2016. "Country-level correlates of e-cigarette use in the European Union," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 61(2), pages 269-275, March.
    2. Wolf, Achim & Gray, Ron & Fazel, Seena, 2014. "Violence as a public health problem: An ecological study of 169 countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 220-227.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Liesbeth de Wit & Pania Karnaki & Archontoula Dalma & Peter Csizmadia & Charlotte Salter & Andrea de Winter & Louise Meijering, 2020. "Health Literacy in the Everyday Lives of Older Adults in Greece, Hungary, and the Netherlands," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-16, April.
    2. Mariusz Duplaga, 2020. "Determinants and Consequences of Limited Health Literacy in Polish Society," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-13, January.
    3. Don Nutbeam & Diane Levin-Zamir & Gill Rowlands, 2018. "Health Literacy in Context," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-3, November.
    4. Chiara Lorini & Saverio Caini & Francesca Ierardi & Letizia Bachini & Fabrizio Gemmi & Guglielmo Bonaccorsi, 2020. "Health Literacy as a Shared Capacity: Does the Health Literacy of a Country Influence the Health Disparities among Immigrants?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-20, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sabina Alkire & Emma Samman, 2014. "Mobilising the Household Data Required to Progress toward the SDGs," OPHI Working Papers 72, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    2. Jingfen Zhu & Fanghui Shi & Gang Xu & Na Li & Jiahui Li & Yaping He & Jinming Yu, 2019. "Conventional Cigarette and E-Cigarette Smoking among School Personnel in Shanghai, China: Prevalence and Determinants," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-13, September.
    3. Shellae Versey, H. & Cogburn, Courtney C. & Wilkins, Clara L. & Joseph, Nakita, 2019. "Appropriated racial oppression: Implications for mental health in Whites and Blacks," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 295-302.
    4. Ryan, Megan & Gallagher, Stephen & Jetten, Jolanda & Muldoon, Orla T., 2022. "State level income inequality affects cardiovascular stress responses: Evidence from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    5. DeVerteuil, Geoffrey, 2015. "Conceptualizing violence for health and medical geography," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 216-222.
    6. Yukhnenko, Denis & Farouki, Leen & Fazel, Seena, 2023. "Criminal recidivism rates globally: A 6-year systematic review update," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    7. Jayati Das-Munshi & Crick Lund & Catherine Mathews & Charlotte Clark & Catherine Rothon & Stephen Stansfeld, 2016. "Mental Health Inequalities in Adolescents Growing Up in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Cross-Sectional Survey, SHaW Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(5), pages 1-16, May.
    8. Laura Cataldi & Silvia Cataldi, 2024. "Prison and Love: The Role of Affection and Rehabilitative Actions in Reducing Recidivism and Beyond," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-14, June.
    9. Samantha C Winter & Lena Moraa Obara & Sarah McMahon, 2020. "Intimate partner violence: A key correlate of women’s physical and mental health in informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(4), pages 1-18, April.
    10. Butcher, Fredrick & Galanek, Joseph D. & Kretschmar, Jeff M. & Flannery, Daniel J., 2015. "The impact of neighborhood disorganization on neighborhood exposure to violence, trauma symptoms, and social relationships among at-risk youth," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 300-306.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:4:p:798-:d:142018. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.