Health literacy and preventive behaviors

Health literacy (HL) is defined as the capacity of a person to acquire, interpret, and understand basic information and health services that is necessary for proper decision making. Some researchers believe that HL is a stronger predictor of health as compared to variables such as age, sex, income, employment status, education level, and race [1]. HL can be an effective factor in increasing health behaviors such as adoption of preventive behaviors [2]. Studies on the relationship between HL and the adoption of preventive behaviors report controversial results. While the results of a study indicate that there is no significant relationship between HL and mammography [3], other studies in this regard have concluded that a low level of HL are related to the adoption of less preventive behaviors such as screening tests [4], performing less Pap smear and breast self-examination [2], less involvement in mammography, doing less physical activity and smoking [5], and performing less screening of prostate and colorectal cancers [3].