Health Literacy Predicts Readiness to Behavior Change in The Iranian Adult Population

Background and Objectives: Health literacy requires the knowledge, motivation, and competence to access understand, evaluate and apply health information to make judgments and decisions in daily life and to be prepared for the change to maintain or improve quality of life throughout life. This study aimed to investigate the health literacy level in the Iranian adult population (18-64 years old) and its relationship with behavior readiness.Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 898 people were live in Southwest of Iran participated in the study in February 2022. The random sampling method was simple. According to the number assigned to each client covered by the health center the online link of the questionnaire was sent to their mobile phone through SMS and WhatsApp. Data were analyzed by SPSS25.Results: Only 30.3% of the subjects had excellent health literacy and 46.5% had adequate health literacy. The mean score of readiness for behavior change was 92.68 ± 13.31. Health literacy had a positive and significant correlation with readiness for change (r = 0.405, P lt;0.001). In general health literacy alone predicted 16.8% variance of behavior change readiness (R square = 0.168, adjusted R = 0.167, P lt;0.001).Conclusion:  In general health literacy in adults is insufficient. However, promoting health literacy may facilitate readiness to change health behaviors.