Cross-sectional survey of health literacy among health science students in Singapore

Abstract

Background: Health literacy proficiency is essential for health care professionals to provide quality patient care. There is limited research exploring health literacy proficiency among undergraduate health science students. Objectives: To determine health literacy among health science students in Singapore using the electronic Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ). Design: A cross-sectional survey using purposive sampling was conducted among undergraduate health science students. Methodology: This study hypothesises that health literacy is influenced by gender, and it increases with the level of health science education, attributed to the increased exposure to the health care system and health care education as undergraduates progress through the years of study. Eligible students from the 4-year entry-level programmes of diagnostic radiography, dietetics, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, radiation therapy and speech and language therapy, aged from 21 to 50, were invited. Exclusion criteria were students who were no longer studying due to dropping out or having immediately graduated from these programmes and students in the accelerated programmes whose studies would be completed in less than 4 years. Results: In total, 111 respondents (72 females and 37 males) completed surveys (response rate, 7.7%) returned from physiotherapy (n = 69), occupational therapy (n = 25), diagnostic radiography (n = 12) and dietetics (n = 5), with nil from radiation therapy and speech and language therapy. All participants were English literate. Female participants demonstrated higher HLQ with a mean total score of 30.67 (standard deviation (SD) = 0.61) versus male participants 29.83 (SD = 0.53). Year 2, 3 and 4 students generally scored higher than Year 1 across all nine HLQ scales. Overall, dietetics students had the highest total score on the HLQ, while the diagnostic radiography students had the lowest scores for all the nine HLQ scales. Conclusion: This study established the health literacy level of health science students in Singapore. Gender and years of study influenced health literacy levels, supporting the hypothesis.