Assessing the Relationship between Health Promotion-Related Health Literacy and Health Psychology's Sense of Coherence in Young Adult

In the evolving field of health literacy, the majority of research has been anchored in the health care perspective, focusing on basic literacy and numeracy. The field of health literacy does not yet represent the broader range of health that includes health promotion where empowerment is key. In addition, prior research had studied health literacy as one global concept, rather than as specific competencies. This study assessed the relationship between an empowerment-oriented psychological construct and four health literacy competencies for the understudied domain of health promotion in the understudied population of young adults. This quantitative, nonexperimental study used data collected through an online survey using the Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (HLS-Q) to measure four health literacy competencies and the Orientation to Life Questionnaire (OLQ) to measure empowerment. Invitations to participate were sent to a random sample of 400 young adults, aged 18-24 years, at a Department of Defense worksite. After eliminating records with missing information, data were analyzed on 82 participants (20% response rate). The sample was 61% female, 86.6% White, and highly educated (53.4% had graduated college), with a mean age of 22.15 years (SD = 1.94). Results from the HLS-Q showed that young adults perceived accessing, understanding, appraising, and applying health information were all fairly easy (Ms = 2.86-3.15, with 4=very easy). Multiple regression analyses, which controlled for age, gender, ethnicity, and education, showed that empowerment significantly predicted three of the four health literacy competencies---accessing, beta =.30, t(76) = 2.62, p =.01, understanding, beta =.41, t(76) = 3.77, p < .001, and appraising, beta =.39, t(76) = 3.63, p = .001. Empowerment did not significantly predict applying, beta =.19, t(76) = 1.66, p = .10. The demographic variables were not significant predictors of health literacy, inconsistent with prior literature. The study was based on two theoretical frameworks---the integrated health literacy conceptual framework and the salutogenic theoretical framework---which have not been studied previously in relation to each other. Future research could focus on further theoretical development of health promotion-related health literacy, health literacy in young adults, and empowerment and other psychosocial factors' influence on health literacy.