title: Health Literacy in Taiwan: A Population-Based Study.
abstract: Data on health literacy (HL) in the population is limited for Asian countries. This study aimed to test the validity of the Mandarin version of the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (HLS-EU-Q) for use in the general public in Taiwan. Multistage stratiﬁcation random sampling resulted in a sample of 2989 people aged 15 years and above. The HLS-EU-Q was validated by confirmatory factor analysis with excellent model data fit indices. The general HL of the Taiwanese population was 34.4 ± 6.6 on a scale of 50. Multivariate regression analysis showed that higher general HL is significantly associated with the higher ability to pay for medication, higher self-perceived social status, higher frequency of watching health-related TV, and community involvement but associated with younger age. HL is also associated with health status, health behaviors, and health care accessibility and use. The HLS-EU-Q was found to be a useful tool to assess HL and its associated factors in the general population.
authors.affiliation: Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Van Tuyen
authors.initials: VT
authors.lastname: Duong
authors.affiliation: National Yang Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: I-Feng
authors.initials: IF
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Kristine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sorensen
authors.affiliation: Ludwig Boltzmann Institute Health Promotion Research.
authors.forename: Jürgen M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Pelikan
authors.affiliation: Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Van Den Broucke
authors.affiliation: Taipei Medial University-Shuang-Ho Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ying-Chin
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan Taipei Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taiwan peter.chang3@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Peter Wushou
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D057220:Health Literacy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013624:Taiwan; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: HLS-EU-Qs; Taiwan; age; health literacy; health-related TV