Association between echinococcosis-specific health literacy and behavioural intention to prevent echinococcosis among herdsmen on the Tibet Plateau in China: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundEchinococcosis is considered a neglected zoonotic disease and has been a major worldwide public health problem. Although it is known that health literacy is closely related to health behaviours and health outcomes, few studies have paid attention to echinococcosis related health literacy. This study aims to examine the association between echinococcosis-specific health literacy (ES-HL) and behavioural intention to prevent echinococcosis (BIPE) among herdsmen on the Tibet Plateauin in China.MethodsA cross-sectional study of 401 Tibetan herdsmen was conducted in Gande county of Qinghai Province, China. Participants were recruited from August to September 2018 and from February to March 2019. A self-developed questionnaire was used to measure demographic information, ES-HL and BIPE. Hierarchical regression analysis was done to identify the factors associated with BIPE.ResultsIn the hierarchical regression analysis, we entered age, sex, education level, marital state and family monthly income per capita into model 1 which explained a significant amount of variance in BIPE (Adjusted R-2 change=0.029, P=0.006). Sex (beta=-0.125, P=0.013) and family monthly income per capita (beta=-0.133, P=0.009) were found to be associated with BIPE. Subsequently, the three factors of ES-HL were added to Model 1 to create Model 2. In Model 2, the two factors of ES-HL, perceived echinococcosis information support (beta =0.229, P<0.001) and echinococcosis-specific self-management ability (=0.252, P<0.001), were significantly associated with BIPE, while the information acquisition and evaluation ability factor ( =0.093, P=0.089) was not found to be associated with BIPE. The model improved significantly when ES-HL was included (Model 2) explaining the 25.8% of variance of BIPE (Adjust R-2 change =0.229, P<0.001).ConclusionsES-HL is an important predictor of whether individuals take preventive actions against echinococcosis. An ES-HL promotion action project should be developed targeting specific populations to enhance the prevention of echinococcosis.

Automated summary

The study examined the association between echinococcosis-specific health literacy and behavioural intention to prevent echinococcosis among Tibetan herdsmen, finding that health literacy is a key predictor of whether individuals take preventive actions against echinococcosis. Developing targeted health literacy promotion programs is essential in enhancing echinococcosis prevention.