Jie Zhao1, Yangzong Dawa2, Kezhong A3, Zengyue Li4, Wanli Chen1, Jingya Wang1, Yuxin Zhang1, Jiwei Wang5, Lizheng Shi6, Qingwu Jiang1. 1. Key Laboratory of Public Health Safety of Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Health Technology Assessment of Ministry of Health, School of Public Health, Fudan University, 130 Dongan Road, Shanghai, 200032, China. 2. School of Philosophy, Fudan University, 220 Handan Road, Shanghai, 200433, China. 3. Qinghai provincial center for disease control and prevention, Xining, 810007, Qinghai Province, China. 4. Qinghai Provincial Institute for Endemic Disease Control and Prevention, Xining, 811602, Qinghai Province, China. 5. Key Laboratory of Public Health Safety of Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Health Technology Assessment of Ministry of Health, School of Public Health, Fudan University, 130 Dongan Road, Shanghai, 200032, China. jiweiwang@fudan.edu.cn. 6. School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Echinococcosis is considered a neglected zoonotic disease and has been a major worldwide public health problem. Although it is known that health literacy is closely related to health behaviours and health outcomes, few studies have paid attention to echinococcosis related health literacy. This study aims to examine the association between echinococcosis-specific health literacy (ES-HL) and behavioural intention to prevent echinococcosis (BIPE) among herdsmen on the Tibet Plateauin in China. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of 401 Tibetan herdsmen was conducted in Gande county of Qinghai Province, China. Participants were recruited from August to September 2018 and from February to March 2019. A self-developed questionnaire was used to measure demographic information, ES-HL and BIPE. Hierarchical regression analysis was done to identify the factors associated with BIPE. RESULTS: In the hierarchical regression analysis, we entered age, sex, education level, marital state and family monthly income per capita into model 1 which explained a significant amount of variance in BIPE (Adjusted R2 change = 0.029, P = 0.006). Sex (β = - 0.125, P = 0.013) and family monthly income per capita (β = - 0.133, P = 0.009) were found to be associated with BIPE. Subsequently, the three factors of ES-HL were added to Model 1 to create Model 2. In Model 2, the two factors of ES-HL, perceived echinococcosis information support (β = 0.229, P < 0.001) and echinococcosis-specific self-management ability (β = 0.252, P < 0.001), were significantly associated with BIPE, while the information acquisition and evaluation ability factor (β =0.093, P = 0.089) was not found to be associated with BIPE. The model improved significantly when ES-HL was included (Model 2) explaining the 25.8% of variance of BIPE (Adjust R2 change =0.229, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: ES-HL is an important predictor of whether individuals take preventive actions against echinococcosis. An ES-HL promotion action project should be developed targeting specific populations to enhance the prevention of echinococcosis.
BACKGROUND:Echinococcosis is considered a neglected zoonotic disease and has been a major worldwide public health problem. Although it is known that health literacy is closely related to health behaviours and health outcomes, few studies have paid attention to echinococcosis related health literacy. This study aims to examine the association between echinococcosis-specific health literacy (ES-HL) and behavioural intention to prevent echinococcosis (BIPE) among herdsmen on the Tibet Plateauin in China. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of 401 Tibetan herdsmen was conducted in Gande county of Qinghai Province, China. Participants were recruited from August to September 2018 and from February to March 2019. A self-developed questionnaire was used to measure demographic information, ES-HL and BIPE. Hierarchical regression analysis was done to identify the factors associated with BIPE. RESULTS: In the hierarchical regression analysis, we entered age, sex, education level, marital state and family monthly income per capita into model 1 which explained a significant amount of variance in BIPE (Adjusted R2 change = 0.029, P = 0.006). Sex (β = - 0.125, P = 0.013) and family monthly income per capita (β = - 0.133, P = 0.009) were found to be associated with BIPE. Subsequently, the three factors of ES-HL were added to Model 1 to create Model 2. In Model 2, the two factors of ES-HL, perceived echinococcosis information support (β = 0.229, P < 0.001) and echinococcosis-specific self-management ability (β = 0.252, P < 0.001), were significantly associated with BIPE, while the information acquisition and evaluation ability factor (β =0.093, P = 0.089) was not found to be associated with BIPE. The model improved significantly when ES-HL was included (Model 2) explaining the 25.8% of variance of BIPE (Adjust R2 change =0.229, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS:ES-HL is an important predictor of whether individuals take preventive actions against echinococcosis. An ES-HL promotion action project should be developed targeting specific populations to enhance the prevention of echinococcosis.
Entities:
Keywords:
Behavioural intention; Echinococcosis prevention; Health literacy