Universität zu Köln

Schaeffer, Doris, Berens, Eva-Maria, Vogt, Dominique, Gille, Svea, Griese, Lennert ORCID: 0000-0002-9900-2967, Klinger, Julia and Hurrelmann, Klaus (2021). Health Literacy in Germany Findings of a Representative Follow-up Survey. Dtsch. Arztebl. Int., 118 (43). S. 723 - 736. COLOGNE: DEUTSCHER AERZTE-VERLAG GMBH. ISSN 1866-0452

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Abstract

Background: Studies have shown that the health literacy of the German population is low. The aim of this article is to analyze current developments in health literacy on the basis of recent data. Methods: The Health Literacy Survey Germany 2 (HLS-GER 2) is a representative quantitative survey of the German-speaking resident population of Germany aged 18 and above. It was carried out in December 2019 and January 2020 by paper-assisted personal oral interview (PAPI). Data on health literacy and sociodemographic characteristics were acquired with an internationally coordinated questionnaire. The instrument for measuring general health literacy consisted of 47 questions that reflect an individual's ability to access, understand, appraise, and apply health-related information. The associations between general health literacy and sociodemographic factors were analyzed using bivariate and multivariate statistical tests. Results: 58.8% of the participants had low health literacy, characterized by rating at least one-third of the questions as difficult or very difficult. Many respondents stated that they had difficulties accessing (48.3%), understanding (47.7%), and applying (53.5%) information, and even more of them (74.7%) reported difficulties appraising information. The correlation coefficients reveal that health literacy is weakly associated with the following variables: age, sex, social status, literacy, level of education, financial deprivation, migration background, and the presence of one or more chronic diseases. Conclusion: The findings of the HLS-GER 2 highlight the need for action in pro moting health literacy in the healthcare system. As the explanation of variance is low, there are presumably other important determinants of health literacy that were not taken into account. Further studies should be performed to investigate societal conditions of supplying health information, for example, or social and personal characteristics.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Schaeffer, Doris UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Berens, Eva-Maria UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Vogt, Dominique UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Gille, Svea UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Griese, Lennert UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0002-9900-2967 UNSPECIFIED Klinger, Julia UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Hurrelmann, Klaus UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-578557
DOI:	10.3238/arztebl.m2021.0310
Journal or Publication Title:	Dtsch. Arztebl. Int.
Volume:	118
Number:	43
Page Range:	S. 723 - 736
Date:	2021
Publisher:	DEUTSCHER AERZTE-VERLAG GMBH
Place of Publication:	COLOGNE
ISSN:	1866-0452
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language Medicine, General & Internal Multiple languages
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/57855