IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i5p1683-d328557.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Relationship between Health Literacy, Quality of Life, and Subjective Health: Results of a Cross-Sectional Study in a Rural Region in Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Anna T. Ehmann

    (Institute of Occupational and Social Medicine and Health Services Research, University Hospital Tübingen, Wilhelmstraße 27, 72074 Tübingen, Germany)

  • Oliver Groene

    (OptiMedis AG, Burchardstraße 17, 20095 Hamburg, Germany
    London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, London WC1E 7HT, UK)

  • Monika A. Rieger

    (Institute of Occupational and Social Medicine and Health Services Research, University Hospital Tübingen, Wilhelmstraße 27, 72074 Tübingen, Germany)

  • Achim Siegel

    (Institute of Occupational and Social Medicine and Health Services Research, University Hospital Tübingen, Wilhelmstraße 27, 72074 Tübingen, Germany)

Abstract

Low health literacy is associated with poorer health and quality of life. An open question is whether a regional integrated healthcare system whose management strives to enable and empower its members with regard to health issues can contribute to a higher level of health literacy in the population. Against this background, in a cross-sectional study we surveyed a random selection of members of an integrated healthcare system in southwestern Germany ( n = 180). The standardized questionnaire included, inter alia, questions on health literacy and subjective health. In this sample we wanted to (1) determine the proportion of respondents with sufficient health literacy and (2) investigate whether the association between health literacy and quality of life and subjective health status—as found in other studies—can be replicated. In our sample a health literacy score could be calculated in 126 subjects (70%). A sufficient level of health literacy was detected in 62% of respondents. Confirming the findings of a meta-analysis based on international studies, we found moderate correlations between health literacy and quality of life (r = 0.41) and health literacy and subjective health status (r = 0.40); these correlations hardly decreased when we controlled for various sociodemographic characteristics. As the proportion of respondents with sufficient health literacy was higher in our sample than in comparable studies conducted in Germany, we may hypothesize that an integrated healthcare system like the one we surveyed could have contributed to increased health literacy in the population. Thus, it could be worthwhile to investigate this research question with a more rigorous study design and a larger sample.

Suggested Citation

  • Anna T. Ehmann & Oliver Groene & Monika A. Rieger & Achim Siegel, 2020. "The Relationship between Health Literacy, Quality of Life, and Subjective Health: Results of a Cross-Sectional Study in a Rural Region in Germany," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-12, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:5:p:1683-:d:328557
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/5/1683/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/5/1683/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jany Rademakers & Monique Heijmans, 2018. "Beyond Reading and Understanding: Health Literacy as the Capacity to Act," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-12, August.
    2. Hongyan Liu & Huan Zeng & Yang Shen & Fan Zhang & Manoj Sharma & Weiyun Lai & Yu Zhao & Genhui Tao & Jun Yuan & Yong Zhao, 2018. "Assessment Tools for Health Literacy among the General Population: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-16, August.
    3. Achim Siegel & Anna T. Ehmann & Ingo Meyer & Oliver Gröne & Wilhelm Niebling & Peter Martus & Monika A. Rieger, 2019. "PEN-13: A New Generic 13-Item Questionnaire for Measuring Patient Enablement (German Version)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1, December.
    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. Elín Arnardóttir & Árún K. Sigurðardóttir & Marit Graue & Beate-Christin Hope Kolltveit & Timothy Skinner, 2023. "Can Waist-to-Height Ratio and Health Literacy Be Used in Primary Care for Prioritizing Further Assessment of People at T2DM Risk?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(16), pages 1-14, August.
    2. Andrew Ridge & Gregory M. Peterson & Rosie Nash, 2022. "Risk Factors Associated with Preventable Hospitalisation among Rural Community-Dwelling Patients: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-15, December.
    3. Tetine Sentell & Sandra Vamos & Orkan Okan, 2020. "Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Health Literacy Research Around the World: More Important Than Ever in a Time of COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-13, April.
    4. Katharina Achstetter & Julia Köppen & Matthias Haltaufderheide & Philipp Hengel & Miriam Blümel & Reinhard Busse, 2022. "Health Literacy of People with Substitutive Private Health Insurance in Germany and Their Assessment of the Health System Performance According to Health Literacy Levels: Results from a Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-17, December.
    5. Achim Siegel & Aileen C. Hoge & Anna T. Ehmann & Peter Martus & Monika A. Rieger, 2021. "Attitudes of Company Executives toward a Comprehensive Workplace Health Management—Results of an Exploratory Cross-Sectional Study in Germany," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-20, October.
    6. Wenna Wang & Yulin Zhang & Beilei Lin & Yongxia Mei & Zhiguang Ping & Zhenxiang Zhang, 2020. "The Urban-Rural Disparity in the Status and Risk Factors of Health Literacy: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Central China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-12, May.

    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. Tan T. Nguyen & Nga T. Le & Minh H. Nguyen & Linh V. Pham & Binh N. Do & Hoang C. Nguyen & Huu C. Nguyen & Tung H. Ha & Hung K. Dao & Phuoc B. Nguyen & Manh V. Trinh & Thinh V. Do & Hung Q. Nguyen & T, 2020. "Health Literacy and Preventive Behaviors Modify the Association between Pre-Existing Health Conditions and Suspected COVID-19 Symptoms: A Multi-Institutional Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-12, November.
    2. Mariusz Duplaga & Marcin Grysztar, 2021. "Socio-Economic Determinants of Health Literacy in High School Students: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-17, November.
    3. Don Nutbeam & Diane Levin-Zamir & Gill Rowlands, 2018. "Health Literacy in Context," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-3, November.
    4. Anna Aaby & Karina Friis & Bo Christensen & Helle Terkildsen Maindal, 2020. "Health Literacy among People in Cardiac Rehabilitation: Associations with Participation and Health-Related Quality of Life in the Heart Skills Study in Denmark," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-12, January.
    5. Neida Neto Vicente Ramos & Inês Fronteira & Maria Rosário Oliveira Martins, 2022. "Building a Health Literacy Indicator from Angola Demographic and Health Survey in 2015/2016," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-12, March.
    6. Svea Gille & Lennert Griese & Doris Schaeffer, 2021. "Preferences and Experiences of People with Chronic Illness in Using Different Sources of Health Information: Results of a Mixed-Methods Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-16, December.
    7. Cindy Yue Tian & Richard Huan Xu & Phoenix Kit-Han Mo & Dong Dong & Eliza Lai-Yi Wong, 2020. "Generic Health Literacy Measurements for Adults: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-18, October.
    8. Katharina Achstetter & Julia Köppen & Matthias Haltaufderheide & Philipp Hengel & Miriam Blümel & Reinhard Busse, 2022. "Health Literacy of People with Substitutive Private Health Insurance in Germany and Their Assessment of the Health System Performance According to Health Literacy Levels: Results from a Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-17, December.
    9. Charlotte Demant Klinker & Anna Aaby & Lene Winther Ringgaard & Anneke Vang Hjort & Melanie Hawkins & Helle Terkildsen Maindal, 2020. "Health Literacy is Associated with Health Behaviors in Students from Vocational Education and Training Schools: A Danish Population-Based Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-13, January.
    10. Stinne Eika Rasmussen & Anna Aaby & Anne Søjbjerg & Anna Mygind & Helle Terkildsen Maindal & Olli Paakkari & Kaj Sparle Christensen, 2023. "The Brief Health Literacy Scale for Adults: Adaptation and Validation of the Health Literacy for School-Aged Children Questionnaire," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(22), pages 1-13, November.
    11. Alberto Paucar-Caceres & Carlos Vílchez-Román & Silvia Quispe-Prieto, 2023. "Health Literacy Concepts, Themes, and Research Trends Globally and in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Bibliometric Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(22), pages 1-16, November.
    12. Johanna Sophie Lubasch & Mona Voigt-Barbarowicz & Nicole Ernstmann & Christoph Kowalski & Anna Levke Brütt & Lena Ansmann, 2021. "Organizational Health Literacy in a Hospital—Insights on the Patients’ Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-14, November.

    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:17:y:2020:i:5:p:1683-:d:328557. 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.