Objective To explore the tendency of changes in lifestyle- and behavior-related health literacy among residents in Jiangsu province and to provide references for healthy lifestyle promotion.
Methods We conducted yearly survey on health literacy among permanent residents aged 15 – 69 years recruited using cluster sampling and proportionate to population size (PPS) sampling in Jiangsu province from 2012 to 2015 in line with the National Health Literacy Surveillance Program. Household interview with a unified questionnaire was performed and standardized process and descriptive analyses on collected data were carried out using statistical software.
Results The standardized ratio of participants with adequate lifestyle- and behavior-related health literacy increased by 4.5% from 14.5% among 11 724 respondents in 2012 to 19.0% among 11 141 respondents in 2015, with an average annual increase of 1.1%. In contrast to its increase to some extent in various subgroups of the respondents, the ratio decreased by 1.4% in the respondents aged 15 – 24 years and by 3.8% in the middle school students surveyed during the 4-year period, respectively.
Conclusion The lifestyle- and behavior-related health literacy increased during the period of 2012 – 2015 but it remained at a relatively low level and differed in various subgroups among adult residents in Jiangsu province; the results suggest that health literacy promotion with different characteristics need to be carried out among various targeted populations.
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