Assessing the influence of health literacy on health information behaviors: A multi-domain skills-based approach.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between five domain-specific skills of health literacy: Find Health Information (FHI), Appraise Health Information (AHI), Understand Health Information to act (UHI), Actively Manage One's Health (AMH), and E-health literacy (e-Heals), and health information seeking behaviors and three categories of health outcomes. METHODS: A survey was implemented and data was collected from 1062 college going adults and analyzed using bivariate tests and multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: Among the five domain-specific Health Literacy skills, AHI and e-Heals were significantly associated with the use of traditional sources and the Internet for healthcare information respectively. Similarly and AMH and e-Heals were significantly associated with the use of traditional sources and the Internet for health lifestyle information respectively. Lastly AHI, AMH and e-Heals were significantly associated with the three categories of outcomes, and AFH was significantly associated with cognitive and instrumental outcomes, but not doctor-patient communication outcomes. CONCLUSION: Consumers' ability to use different health sources for both healthcare and health lifestyle information, and the three categories of health outcomes are associated with different domain-specific health literacy skills. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Health literacy initiatives may be improved by focusing on clients to develop domain-specific skills that increase the likelihood of using health information sources and accrue benefits.