Health literacy and Zika virus disease among reproductive-age women in the upper central region, Thailand

Abstract

The purposes of this study were; 1) to analyze factors associated with the health literacy of Zika virus infections in women of reproductive age and 2) to create a self-assessment Zika health literacy scale in women of reproductive age in the upper central region of Thailand. We collected 778 reproductive women, aged 18-49, resided in 5 provinces in the upper central region of Thailandincluding Nakhon Sawan, Kamphaeng Phet, Phichit, Chai Nat, Uthai Thani by multi- stage sampling. The data were collected by questionnaires. The confirmatory factors were analyzed with AMOS. The research findings can be summarized as follows: 1) the 11 factors associated with the health literacy of Zika virus infections in reproductive-age women were age, education, income per month, knowledge on Zika virus, social support, ability to perceive the information, ability to access the information, knowledge on health information, ability to understand the risk factors through information , ability to evaluate the information relating to risk factors, ability to use and apply the information and preventive behavior significantly affected the Zika virus infections (r=0.13-0.87). 2) The self-assessment of Zika health literacy scale consisted of 25 items revealed the reliability in whole paper at 0.96 and the weighted values of the factors ranged from 0.63 to 0.85. The result of the model testing of the self-assessment scale on health literacy of Zika virus infection is congruent with the evidence-based practice with chi-square400.004 ϰ2/ df=1.961, p=0.001, GFI=0.961, AGFI=0.937, RMR=0.015, and RMSEA=0.035. Public health policy makers should adapt the findings from this study tosolve the problem on Zika prevention and improve the health literacy among the reproductive-age women in the upper central region of Thailand.