ArticleBMC public health2023
Health literacy and the role of social support in different age groups: results of a German cross-sectional survey.
Article in BMC public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trial
- Effectiveness of genetic feedback on alcohol metabolism to reduce alcohol consumption in young adults: an open-label randomized controlled trial.BMC medicine · 2024Trial
- What are the demographic predictors and barriers to self-care engagement in the UK? a cross-sectional survey study.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Physical activity-related health competence differs by social and health-related factors: findings from a nationwide population-based study in Germany.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Identification of key influencing factors of health information literacy in COPD patients: a cross-sectional study using a random forest model.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2026Article
- Oral health knowledge, attitudes, and practices and associated factors among non-dental healthcare professionals in South China: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Do nutrition knowledge and health literacy influence food consumption patterns in Saudi youth aged 18 to 25? An analytical assessment using cross-sectional convenience sample.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Structural Validation and Measurement Invariance of the HLS-Q12 Health Literacy Instrument in Finnish Adults: Comparing Traditional and Alignment Methods.International journal of public health · 2026Article
- Prevalence and Associated Factors in Nausea and Vomiting Among Pregnant Women in Eastern Ethiopia: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study.Health services insights · 2026Article
- Noncommunicable chronic comorbidities, perceived social support, depression, and health-related quality of life among people with HIV: a structural equation modeling study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Knowledge of Health Services Access Among Hajj Pilgrims in Saudi Arabia During the 1445 H (2024 G) Season and Its Associated Demographic and Health-Related Factors.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Validity of patient-reported information: agreement rate between patient reports and registry data.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Health literacy and influencing factors in university students across diverse educational fields in Kazakhstan.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Health literacy and chronic disease: a comparison of somatic and mental illness.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Association between health literacy and the time to first cigarette among daily smokers in Zhejiang Province, China.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Perceived stress and sleep quality in young and middle-aged patients with coronary heart disease: the mediating role of perceived social support and mental health literacy.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Health Literacy, Label Comprehension, and Consumer Perceptions of Quasi-Drug Information Among Korean Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2025Article
- Mediating effect of health literacy on social support and self-care ability in older patients undergoing percutaneous coronary stent implantation.Cardiovascular diagnosis and therapy · 2024Article
- eHealth literacy and doctor-inpatient relationships: The mediating role of eHealth utilization and the moderating role of age.Digital healthArticle
- The impact of smart healthcare and eldercare on older adults' health and health inequality: Evidence from China.Digital healthArticle
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundScholars demand more focus on context-related factors of health literacy as the management of health information is seen as a social practice. One prominent factor is social support that is expected to be particularly relevant for persons vulnerable for low health literacy. It was shown that health literacy can differ across the life span and especially older people have been demonstrated to be vulnerable for low health literacy. Therefore, health literacy and the relation of social support on health literacy in different age groups should be investigated.
methodsIn a German nationwide survey 2,151 adults were interviewed face-to-face. General comprehensive health literacy was measured with the HLS
resultsHealth literacy is relatively low in all age groups but particularly low among old-old people (76 + years). Also, the youngest adults (18-29 years) have slightly lower health literacy than middle-aged adults. On average, health literacy is higher among people with higher social support but this association varies between age groups. It tends to be quite strong among younger adults (18-45 years) and young-old persons (65-75 years) but is weak among older middle-aged (46-64 years) and old-old persons. The association also differs between steps of information management. It is stronger for accessing and applying information but there are differences in age groups as well.
conclusionsSocial support is a relevant aspect to improve individuals' health literacy and therefore should be addressed in interventions. However, it is necessary to differentiate between age groups. While both young adults and particularly old-old persons are challenged by health information management, young adults can strongly profit from social support whereas it can barely compensate the low health literacy of old-old persons. In addition, different challenges in information management steps in different age groups need to be considered when designing health literacy interventions. Thus, target group specific services and programs are needed.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.