Occupational Health & Safety

Biography

Biography: Ni Yunxia

Abstract

Objective: To understand the health problem that students focus on. To explore the intervention methods to improve the health literacy of college students. To evaluate the effect of the intervention.
Methods: This pilot study design was single-group pre–post non-experimental. The intervention was a combination of lectures and self-study format. Intensive classes held eight times in total which was a two-hour lecture once a week. The intervention content including the concept of health literacy, health promotion programs, self-care, etc. The self-study content was arranged according to the students’ needs and teaching content. Conveying learning requirements, reference materials through public mailbox. Students can also consult the teacher through public mail, telephone, etc., to solve the health problems encountered. Intervention evaluation consisted of basic health literacy survey and the homework of open questions. The survey content includes the health knowledge and ideas, healthy lifestyle and healthy behaviors and skills. The preliminary experiments showed the internal consistency of the questionnaire was 0.91. 17 open-questions were designed which involving health status, lifestyle, etc. Students select one of the questions to answer.
Result: 912 students have been involved in the project, and 832 students have completed the project full and effectively in return. Before and after the intervention, the number of students with health literacy has a significant difference (X2=470.2, P=0.000), and various aspect of health literacy has been enhanced (P<0.05), the least improvement was chronic disease prevention (X2=13.3). The first three health issues that students most concerned about were: their health and how to enhance health level; their lifestyle nearly a week; the effect of environment on their health, and the percent were 20.6%, 14.3%, 14.1%, respectively.
Conclusion: The intervention can improve the health literacy level of college students effectively. However, many aspects of health literacy such as chronic disease prevention is difficult to improve and the behavior is difficult to change, so it is necessary to carry out special studies.