Abstract:
Health literacy is the social determinant of health. The royal Thai navy conscripts become the risk group having low health literacy. The purpose of this study was to study the level of health literacy and the relationship between individual characteristic (age, education level, economic status, stress), health risk behaviors (smoking, alcohol drinking and sexual risk behavior), and the health literacy of navy conscripts in Chonburi Province. The systematic sampling was used to recruited 364 new soldiers stationed at the Marine Corps Training Center [NS] and the Combat Air Command and Coast Guard Training Center [SorRoph.] in Sattahip District, Chonburi Province. Data were collected by using self-report questionnaires consisting of Health Literacy, Smoking Behavior, Alcohol Drinking Behavior, Sexual behavior, and Stress. The data were analyzed by percentage, mean and standard deviation, and Pearson correlation coefficient. The results revealed that 48.1% of soldiers reported insufficient level of health literacy. The high insufficient components were understanding, behavior change and continuation, and interaction and questioning (54.9%, 38.7%, and 34.9%, respectively). Correlational analysis found that stress (r = -0.173), smoking behavior (r = -0.162), alcohol drinking (r = -0.268), and sexual risk behavior (r = -0.271) were negatively correlated to health literacy (p < 0.001). Economic status was positively related to health literacy (r = 0.154). Meanwhile, age, and educational level were not related to health literacy (p > 0.05). From the research results, it is suggested that conscripts with high stress and health risk behaviors tend to have low health literacy