Does health literacy mediate the relationship between socioeconomic status and health disparities? Integrative review

Coraline Stormacq, Stephan Van den Broucke, Jacqueline Wosinski
2018 Health Promotion International  
and Objective: Health literacy is an important element in the ability of a woman to engage in activities that promote their health, family, or children's health. The health literacy of pregnant mothers can affect the pregnancy health and also the health of the baby by improving the quality of prenatal care. Understanding the most important factors affecting the health literacy of pregnant women is very important. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the relationship between health
more » ... eracy level and socioeconomic status among primigravida women in Bushehr, Iran. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 100 primigravida women referring to the comprehensive health centers of Bushehr were randomly selected. Health literacy standard questionnaires (FCCHL) and socioeconomic status questionnaire (SES) were used to collect data. Data were analyzed by SPSS v.22 software. Results: The mean age of participants was 26.96 ± 4.84. The highest score of health literacy was in the functional and the lowest score was in the critical domain. Employed pregnant women had better communicational (p=0.002, z= -3.12) and critical health literacy (p=0.006, z=-2.938). There was a direct and significant relationship between socioeconomic status and critical health literacy; participants with higher levels of socioeconomic status had a higher level of critical health literacy (p = 0.04, r = 0.206). Conclusion: It is necessary to pay attention to women with low socioeconomic status in order to improve their health literacy level and provide health services and appropriate education. Paper Type: Research Article.
doi:10.1093/heapro/day062 pmid:30107564 fatcat:o3i3svyz3rharagizxre6lbpee