Communication health literacy of war refugees from Ukraine in the Czech Republic.

Abstract

Communicative health literacy is essential for effective interaction between patients and healthcare professionals. Its limitations may contribute to health inequalities. Ukrainian war refugees face significant barriers in accessing healthcare, primarily due to language and cultural differences. This study analyses their level of communicative health literacy and compares it with the Czech population. A quantitative study was conducted using the standardized HLS19-COM-P questionnaire. In November 2023, 1,182 Ukrainian refugees were surveyed using the CAWI method. Data analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics software version 28. The communicative health literacy of refugees was significantly lower than that of the Czech population. The most significant barriers included difficulties in expressing health problems (40%), asking questions to physicians (50%), and participating in shared decision-making (55%). A low level of communicative health literacy was associated with poorer utilization of healthcare services. To reduce health inequalities, it is necessary to strengthen language support for refugees, increase the availability of intercultural mediators, and implement educational programs aimed at improving communicative health literacy.