How Health Literacy Research Has Evolved in Taiwan: A Bibliometric Analysis

Le Duc Huy

《The Proceedings of the 8th AHLA International Conference: Health Literacy in Social Resilience》 2022 (2022/12) Pp. 51-52

https://doi.org/10.30181/AHLA.202210.0033

摘要

INTRODUCTION: Health literacy (HL) is the degree to which people can search, understand and use health information to perform health decisions and activities for themselves and others. Studies on HL are needed to evaluate and improve health through suitable interventions in Asia.
OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to map the HL studies on populations in different countries in Asia. The results could provide a better understanding of HL developments and its association with health care quality and challenges in Asia in the future.
METHODS: To collect the relevant published studies, we selected designated keywords and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), then screened titles and abstracts, and finally screened full texts to extract and summarize the data. Studies published in English with quantitative measurements of HL were collected through four databases, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science. The date of publication was not limited. 99 relevant publications fitted the selection. Researchers reviewed these works independently. If there was any conflict between the researchers, a third researcher was invited to join the review followed by a discussion and agreement.
RESULTS: 122 articles were identified on HL, and 12 on electronic HL (e-HL). These included oral HL, HL in vaccination, or HL related to diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and dementia. The most common topic of HL was general HL.
Studies on oral HL indicated that improving the oral HL of parents might have a positive impact on children’s oral health. Good oral HL was associated with education and employment status.
Males generally had lower dementia and diabetes HL than females. 75% of Japanese participants obtained dementia-related information from television and 52% from newspapers/magazines. 52.9% of Chinese diabetes patients had adequate diabetes HL which was lower than those of developed countries (90%). The lower disease-related HL is associated with poorer health-related quality of life among elderly individuals.
The factors influencing the HL level included age, education, health status, income, and area of living. Those with lower HL were related to poorer health outcomes and lower quality of life.
For e-HL, levels of e-HL were significantly different between ages, gender, education, social status, health status, smoking, and exercise. Participants with higher e-HL were shown with better health outcomes.
CONCLUSION: Most of the HL was addressed in general HL or disease-specific HL, such as diabetes HL, oral HL, dementia HL, etc. The HL researches were different from country to country and could be affected multi-factorially, also related to the quality of life and health outcomes.

關鍵字

Health Literacy ； eHealth Literacy ； Asia ； Surveys ； Questionnaires