IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/ijphth/v63y2018i3d10.1007_s00038-017-1074-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Poor health and refraining from seeking healthcare are associated with comprehensive health literacy among refugees: a Swedish cross-sectional study

Author

Listed:
  • Josefin Wångdahl

    (Uppsala University)

  • Per Lytsy

    (Uppsala University)

  • Lena Mårtensson

    (University of Gothenburg)

  • Ragnar Westerling

    (Uppsala University)

Abstract

Objectives The objectives of the study were to explore the distributions of comprehensive health literacy (CHL), general health, psychological well-being, and having refrained from seeking healthcare among refugees in Sweden. Further objectives were to examine associations between CHL and the above-mentioned factors. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 513 refugees speaking Arabic, Dari, and Somali. Participants in the civic orientation course in Sweden responded to a questionnaire. CHL was measured using the HLS-EU-Q16 questionnaire. Uni- and multivariate logistic regression was used to investigate potential associations. Results The majority of the respondents had limited CHL, and about four of ten had reported poor health and/or having refrained from seeking healthcare. Limited CHL was associated with having reported poor health and having refrained from seeking healthcare. Conclusions A considerable proportion of the refugees in Sweden have limited CHL, and report less than good health and impaired well-being, or that they have refrained from seeking healthcare. Furthermore, CHL is associated with the above-mentioned factors. Efforts are needed to promote refugees’ CHL, optimal health-seeking behavior, and health.

Suggested Citation

  • Josefin Wångdahl & Per Lytsy & Lena Mårtensson & Ragnar Westerling, 2018. "Poor health and refraining from seeking healthcare are associated with comprehensive health literacy among refugees: a Swedish cross-sectional study," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 63(3), pages 409-419, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:ijphth:v:63:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s00038-017-1074-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s00038-017-1074-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00038-017-1074-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00038-017-1074-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Signe Nielsen & Allan Krasnik, 2010. "Poorer self-perceived health among migrants and ethnic minorities versus the majority population in Europe: a systematic review," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 55(5), pages 357-371, October.
    2. Nutbeam, Don, 2008. "The evolving concept of health literacy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(12), pages 2072-2078, December.
    3. Palumbo, Rocco & Annarumma, Carmela & Adinolfi, Paola & Musella, Marco & Piscopo, Gabriella, 2016. "The Italian Health Literacy Project: Insights from the assessment of health literacy skills in Italy," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(9), pages 1087-1094.
    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. Yuriy Nesterko & David Jäckle & Michael Friedrich & Laura Holzapfel & Heide Glaesmer, 2020. "Health care needs among recently arrived refugees in Germany: a cross-sectional, epidemiological study," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 65(6), pages 811-821, July.
    2. Martin Wetzke & Christine Happle & Annabelle Vakilzadeh & Diana Ernst & Georgios Sogkas & Reinhold E. Schmidt & Georg M. N. Behrens & Christian Dopfer & Alexandra Jablonka, 2018. "Healthcare Utilization in a Large Cohort of Asylum Seekers Entering Western Europe in 2015," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-9, October.
    3. Anna Christina Nowak & Yudit Namer & Claudia Hornberg, 2022. "Health Care for Refugees in Europe: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-10, January.
    4. Pilar Bas-Sarmiento & Miriam Poza-Méndez & Martina Fernández-Gutiérrez & Juan Luis González-Caballero & María Falcón Romero, 2020. "Psychometric Assessment of the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (HLS-EU-Q16) for Arabic/French-Speaking Migrants in Southern Europe," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-15, November.

    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. Chiara Lorini & Veronica Velasco & Guglielmo Bonaccorsi & Kevin Dadaczynski & Orkan Okan & Patrizio Zanobini & Luca P. Vecchio, 2022. "Validation of the COVID-19 Digital Health Literacy Instrument in the Italian Language: A Cross-Sectional Study of Italian University Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-17, May.
    2. Francesca Gallè & Patrizia Calella & Christian Napoli & Fabrizio Liguori & Eduardo Alfonso Parisi & Giovanni Battista Orsi & Giorgio Liguori & Giuliana Valerio, 2020. "Are Health Literacy and Lifestyle of Undergraduates Related to the Educational Field? An Italian Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-9, September.
    3. Andrea Klinovszky & Orsolya Papp-Zipernovszky & Norbert Buzás, 2021. "Building a House of Skills—A Study of Functional Health Literacy and Numeracy among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes in Hungary," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-14, February.
    4. Pilar Bas-Sarmiento & Miriam Poza-Méndez & Martina Fernández-Gutiérrez & Juan Luis González-Caballero & María Falcón Romero, 2020. "Psychometric Assessment of the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (HLS-EU-Q16) for Arabic/French-Speaking Migrants in Southern Europe," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-15, November.
    5. Anna Beniermann & Martin Glos & Heike Schumacher & Ingo Fietze & Stephan Völker & Annette Upmeier zu Belzen, 2023. "‘Sleep Blindness’ in Science Education: How Sleep Health Literacy Can Serve as a Link between Health Education and Education for Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-22, August.
    6. Matias Reus-Pons & Eva U. B. Kibele & Fanny Janssen, 2017. "Differences in healthy life expectancy between older migrants and non-migrants in three European countries over time," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 62(5), pages 531-540, June.
    7. Maricel G. Santos & Anu L. Gorukanti & Lina M. Jurkunas & Margaret A. Handley, 2018. "The Health Literacy of U.S. Immigrant Adolescents: A Neglected Research Priority in a Changing World," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-18, September.
    8. Tan, Micah & Straughan, Paulin Tay & Cheong, Grace, 2022. "Information trust and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy amongst middle-aged and older adults in Singapore: A latent class analysis Approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 296(C).
    9. Gabriela Rolova & Beata Gavurova & Benjamin Petruzelka, 2021. "Health Literacy, Self-Perceived Health, and Substance Use Behavior among Young People with Alcohol and Substance Use Disorders," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-14, April.
    10. Loredana Covolo & Miriam Guana & Guglielmo Bonaccorsi & Laura Brunelli & Silvana Castaldi & Antonella De Donno & Alessandra Mereu & Marco Verani & Umberto Gelatti, 2022. "Exploring the Online Health Information-Seeking Behavior in a Sample of Italian Women: The “SEI Donna” Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-18, April.
    11. Blom, Niels & Huijts, Tim & Kraaykamp, Gerbert, 2016. "Ethnic health inequalities in Europe. The moderating and amplifying role of healthcare system characteristics," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 43-51.
    12. Stephen Black & Catherine Maitland & Julieanne Hilbers & Kirsty Orinuela, 2017. "Diabetes literacy and informal social support: a qualitative study of patients at a diabetes centre," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(1-2), pages 248-257, January.
    13. Sijmen Reijneveld & Maroesjka Nieuwenhuijzen & Mariska Klein Velderman & Theo Paulussen & Marianne Junger, 2012. "Clustering of health and risk behaviour in immigrant and indigenous Dutch residents aged 19–40 years," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 57(2), pages 351-361, April.
    14. Apiradee Nantsupawat & Orn‐Anong Wichaikhum & Kulwadee Abhicharttibutra & Wipada Kunaviktikul & Mohd Said Bin Nurumal & Lusine Poghosyan, 2020. "Nurses' knowledge of health literacy, communication techniques, and barriers to the implementation of health literacy programs: A cross‐sectional study," Nursing & Health Sciences, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(3), pages 577-585, September.
    15. Chiao Ling Huang & Shu-Ching Yang & Chia-Hsun Chiang, 2020. "The Associations between Individual Factors, eHealth Literacy, and Health Behaviors among College Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-13, March.
    16. Ingrid Babinska & Zuzana Veselska & Daniela Bobakova & Daniel Pella & Salvatore Panico & Sijmen Reijneveld & Peter Jarcuska & Pavol Jarcuska & Ivan Zezula & Andrea Geckova, 2013. "Is the cardiovascular risk profile of people living in Roma settlements worse in comparison with the majority population in Slovakia?," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 58(3), pages 417-425, June.
    17. Yuji Kanejima & Kazuhiro P. Izawa & Masahiro Kitamura & Kodai Ishihara & Asami Ogura & Ikko Kubo & Hitomi Nagashima & Hideto Tawa & Daisuke Matsumoto & Ikki Shimizu, 2022. "Health Literacy Is Associated with Activities of Daily Living of Patients Participating in Cardiac Rehabilitation: A Multicenter Clinical Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-10, December.
    18. Garden Tabacchi & Giuseppe Battaglia & Giuseppe Messina & Antonio Paoli & Antonio Palma & Marianna Bellafiore, 2020. "Validity and Internal Consistency of the Preschool-FLAT, a New Tool for the Assessment of Food Literacy in Young Children from the Training-To-Health Project," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-15, April.
    19. Steven Hoffman & Heidi Adams Rueda & Lauren Beasley, 2019. "Youth Perspectives of Healthcare in Central Mexico: An Application of Massey’s Critical Health Literacy Framework," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-14, March.
    20. Martin-Shields, Charles, 2017. "State fragility as a cause of forced displacement: identifying theoretical channels for empirical research," IDOS Discussion Papers 30/2017, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).

    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:spr:ijphth:v:63:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s00038-017-1074-2. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.