As part of the Italian participation in the international Action Network on Measuring Population and Organizational Health Literacy, M-Pohl (launched in February 2018 under the auspices of the WHO European Health Information Initiative (Ehii)), the National Institute of Health (ISS), is conducting a cross-sectional study on the Italian adult general population, the "Health Literacy population based survey-Hls19", with the aim of collecting reliable and comparable data on the distribution of the individual health literacy level and related data between the different Member States.

 

Currently, the ongoing survey is carried out on a random sample, representative of the Italian resident general population aged 18 years and over; data are collected using a standardised questionnaire (Hls19), elaborated in the framework of the international network M-POHL and translated in the Italian language, including which includes questions on Health Literacy, on the main risk factors and lifestyles, and on some aspects of the information related to the SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic.

 

The 'core' items and those on SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic address the respondent's experience in obtaining health information, understanding that information, judging how reliable the information obtained is, and making decisions based on such information to prevent, protect or treat your health.

 

The survey is carried out through telephone interviews with integrated multichannel methodology CATI (Computer Assisted Telephonic Interview: telephone interviews carried out with the support of the computer using a special software) and via the web with CAWI methodology (Computer Assisted Web Interview: on-line interviews).

 

The implementation of the interviews and the collection of information, on behalf of the ISS and under its control and supervision, have been entrusted to an agency with proven national and international experience in the field of opinion polls.

 

The persons selected in the sample will be contacted directly by the agency, by telephone message (SMS), by phone call with operator, or by e-mail, to answer the questionnaire. Before starting the interview, people will be asked to adhere to the 'informed consent' (pdf 36 kb), accepting it by phone or via the web, and an 'information note' (pdf 97 kb), related to the Hls19 survey, will be made available. The agency will provide the link to the web page where both documents can be viewed and downloaded.

 

Italian participation to the M-Pohl network and to set-up and implement the survey-Hls19 in Italy is funded by the Ministry of Health, Ccm 2018 - Central Actions, with the project "Support to Italy's participation to the European Network Measuring Population and Organizational Health Literacy (M-Pohl Network)" coordinated by ISS. The survey Hls19 will form the baseline for monitoring and evaluating health literacy in Italy, together with the other European countries that have signed up to participate.

 

The general objective of the project is to contribute to the availability of high quality and internationally comparable data on health literacy in Europe by conducting a survey on health literacy in a representative sample of the Italian adult general population, following standardized methods which are common to different European countries.

 

To find further information, consult the pages dedicated to:

• health literacy
• the international Network on Health Literacy M-POHL