Factors related to health literacy among Brazilian adolescents: cross-sectional study.
Sidiany Mendes Pimentel, Marla Andréia Garcia de Avila, Vinnicius Dias Alves de Medeiros and 3 others
PMID 38407465WHAT IT FOUND
Brazilian adolescents attending higher education and using medication had higher health literacy scores; males had lower scores.
These are survey associations, not evidence that any intervention improves literacy.
Key findings
01Adolescents averaged 25.3 points out of 37 on the health literacy questionnaire.
02In adjusted analysis, male adolescents scored 1.22 points lower than females, those attending higher education scored 2.55 points higher, and medication use was associated with 1.44 points higher.
03In adjusted analysis, chronic illness was not statistically significant (B = 0.68, p = 0.417).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Cross-sectional survey, so it cannot show whether education, medication use, or gender caused the health literacy differences. Recruitment was mainly through snowball sharing online, which may exclude adolescents without internet access, computers, or similar devices. The study did not collect race or ethnicity data, so it cannot examine those inequities. The sample was heavily female and concentrated in two states, so it may not represent all Brazilian adolescents. The p-HLAT-8 has no cut-off point for low, moderate, or high health literacy. The Brazilian version of the tool was validated in university students, not specifically in adolescents.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that medication use or higher education causes better health literacy. This cross-sectional survey measured associations at one time point and cannot show which came first.