Association of Individual Health Literacy with Preventive Behaviours and Family Well-being during COVID-19 Pandemic: Mediating Role of Family Information Sharing

Objective: We tested a model of individual health literacy, information sharing with family members, personal preventive behaviours and family well-being during COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong. Methods: We analysed data of 1501 randomly selected Chinese adults from a cross-sectional survey in Hong Kong from 9 to 23 April 2020. Individual health literacy, COVID-19 information sharing with family members, preventive behaviours against COVID-19 and family well-being were measured. Structural equation modelling analysis tested the proposed model. Findings: COVID-19 information sharing with family members partially mediated the association between individual health literacy and personal preventive behaviours. The direct effect of .24 was shown and indirect effect through COVID-19 information sharing with family members was small with .03 (Z = 3.66, p < .001). Family well-being was associated with personal preventive behaviours against COVID-19. The model was adjusted for sex, age, and socioeconomic status factors and had good fit with RMSEA = .04, CFI = .98, TLI = .96, and SRMR = .02. Conclusion: COVID-19 information sharing with family members was a partial mediator between individual health literacy and personal preventive behaviours against COVID-19. Strategies for enhancing health literacy and preventive measures against COVID-19 are needed to promote family well-being in the pandemic.