Health Literacy Level of First-year University Students: A Foundation University Study

Objective: This study was designed to determine the health literacy level of first-year university students enrolled in different educational programs. Materials and Methods: The sample of this descriptive cross-sectional study comprised 570 freshmen studying at a private foundation university in Turkey. The study data were collected with an online survey created using Google Forms software (Google LLC, Mountain View, CA, USA) that included a sociodemographic data form and the Adult Health Literacy Scale developed by Sezer and Kadioglu. Statistical analysis was performed using the IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 20.0 software. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and the Mann-Whitney U test, the Kruskal-Wallis test, the Bonferroni correction, and Spearman's correlation test were used to examine the data. Results: The mean health literacy score was 11.49 +/- 2.39. Female students and students who were studying a health-related subject at university, who graduated from a health services vocational high school, and who had mothers with a low education level demonstrated higher literacy levels. Conclusion: The results indicated that the health literacy of freshman university students of various education programs was at a medium level. Additional elective health courses added to the curriculum of university departments outside the health field as well as additional related studies and projects could provide substantial individual and community benefit.