Association of Individual Health Literacy with Preventive Behaviours and Family Well-Being during COVID-19 Pandemic: Mediating Role of Family Information Sharing

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Nov 27;17(23):8838. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17238838.

Abstract

Objective: We tested a model of individual health literacy information sharing with family members, personal preventive behaviours and family well-being during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Hong Kong. Methods: We analysed data of 1501 randomly selected Chinese adults from a cross-sectional survey in Hong Kong from 9 to 23 April, 2020. Individual health literacy about COVID-19 with the items extracted from the questionnaire in World Health Organization Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) Action Plan Guidance for COVID-19 preparedness and response, COVID-19 information sharing with family members, preventive behaviours against COVID-19 and family well-being were measured. Structural equation modelling analysis tested the proposed model. Findings: COVID-19 information sharing with family members partially mediated the association between individual health literacy and personal preventive behaviours. The direct effect of 0.24 was shown, and the indirect effect through COVID-19 information sharing with family members was small at 0.03 (Z = 3.66, p < 0.001). Family well-being was associated with personal preventive behaviours against COVID-19. The model was adjusted for sex, age, and socioeconomic status factors and had good fit with RMSEA = 0.04, CFI = 0.98, TLI = 0.96, and SRMR = 0.02. Conclusion: COVID-19 information sharing with family members was a partial mediator between individual health literacy and personal preventive behaviours against COVID-19. Strategies for enhancing health literacy and preventive measures against COVID-19 are needed to promote family well-being in the pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; family well-being; health literacy; information sharing; preventive measures.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • COVID-19 / prevention & control*
  • Communicable Disease Control
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Family*
  • Health Literacy*
  • Hongkong
  • Humans
  • Information Dissemination*
  • Pandemics / prevention & control