Effectiveness Evaluation And Health Literacy Intervention Based On Health Authority Among Civil Servants In Shenzhen City

ObjectiveFrom the three aspects which include the basic knowledge, the healthy lifestyle and thebasic health skills, this survey describes the status of health literacy of the civil servants ofShenzhen city. The factors affecting their health literacy are analyzed. And the correlationbetween health literacy and mental health is explored in the survey. With the demand of thehealth education of the civil servants serving as the guide, a one-year intervention wascarried out and the effects were evaluated. Therefore the reference for the strategies toimprove their health literary was offered.MethodsThe survey was conducted among civil servants selected by stratified cluster samplingmethod from health authorities of Shenzhen health promotion project in benchmarking. Across-sectional investigation on health literacy was conducted with structured questionnairewith relevant literature for reference. On the basis of baseline investigation and combinedwith the workplace health promotion project, a one-year comprehensive intervention wasimplemented to promote the three levels of the project which included to raise the level ofcognition, to improve their way of life, and to create the environment to support for health.The effect of the intervention was assessed afterwards in the way of the questionnaire. The method of percentage and comprehensive score was chosen to assess the civilservants’ health literacy levels. The80%or more of the correct answer rate of theindications met the criterion of the health literary. The health literacy and mental healthlevels were described with the indexes of mean, standard deviation and percentage. Andthose factors affecting the health literacy were illustrated by the methods of chi-square test,analysis of variance and the analysis of regression.ResultsA total of1157civil servants were investigated, among whom567cases wereinvestigated at baseline and590cases were done after the intervention. According to thebaseline investigation in Shenzhen, the civil servants with the criterion of health literacycovered15.08%overall. Those with the basic knowledge, the healthy lifestyle and the basichealth skills amounted to28.01%、17.24%and51.17%respectively. Comprehensive scorerange from0to100.In Shenzhen among the civil servants the overall average score andstandard deviation of health literacy was64.5213.33, among which the basic knowledgepossessed63.1219.34, the healthy lifestyle66.3113.71, the basic health skills64.2720.38.Overall average score and standard deviation of mental health was12.46±4.69, and thepopulation with the low risk, moderate risk and high risk of mental health status was81.83%,11.69%and6.48%respectively. Work seniority and attitude to actively obtain thehealth information were the main factors to influence the levels of health literacy. And therenoticed significant differences of the health literacy in different work ranks. Therelationship between health literacy and mental health was significantly positive, but wasnot close. The overall level of health literacy among the civil servants of Shenzhen waseffectively improved after the one-year intervention. The rate of the basic knowledge, therate of healthy lifestyle, and the rate of the basic health skills increased by15.90%、8.49%and27.09%, respectively (p<0.05).The overall status of their mental health was improved,but there was no significant difference in statistics after intervention. ConclusionThe overall health literacy of the civil servants in Shenzhen was at low level. Their highwork seniority of them should be the key intervention object, and their enthusiasm shouldbe aroused to take the initiative to obtain the health information. The overall status ofmental health was good among the civil servants, but there was the popular phenomenonthat they were under pressure. And civil servants at section level should be as the mainobjects of the psychological health education. The higher level of health literacy goes withthe better status of mental health among the civil servants. The monitoring system of healthliteracy among civil servants should be improved, and the monitoring project should becarried out periodically with the help of the health authority. Implementing interventionswith the help of the reference experience of workplace health promotion can effectivelyimprove the level of the health literacy among the civil servants. But the improvement inthe healthy lifestyle and behavior was slight.