Exploring health literacy of medical students: а cross-sectional study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.2478/AMB-2025-0010Keywords:
health literacy, medical students, information, competencies, indexAbstract
New generation of medical students has access to multiple sources of health information of varying quality. This easy access to information sources does not imply definitely that medical students have the necessary skills to understand and judge the adequacy of published health information. Limited researches show that even among health professionals there are gaps in knowledge, as well as limitations in understanding and assessing capacities related both to individual and environmental health literacy. Objective: We aimed at exploring the health literacy of medical students and the way they find, understand, appraise, and use health information. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted during the 2018/2019 academic year at Medical University - Sofia. An adapted and supplemented version of European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (EU-HLS-Q) was administered to all 2-nd year medical students who had attended social medicine practical classes (n=650). Health literacy index (HLI) was calculated. The response rate was 88% (n=575). Results: The study found that mean HLI of all participating students was 32.55 falling into the category "problematic". Statistically significant differences were found between Bulgarian and international students in respect to the general HLI , as well as to the many of health related skills (p<0.05). Conclusion: The main difficulties that all students encountered were in the area of evaluating and judging health information. Through this study we identified weak areas within the health literacy scope of medical students. The prevalence of limited health literacy among medical students is a real challenge for medical university. Health literacy resources and competencies should be developed as a life-long continuous process at all levels and kinds of educational institutions.
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Journal Acta Medica Bulgarica 
