Revealing Health Literacy: An Inquiry into Public Comprehension of Medication Labels, Instructions, and Dosage Regimens

Abstract

Background: Health literacy plays a crucial role in ensuring medication safety and informed decision-making. Understanding the factors that influence individuals’ ability and willingness to seek medication-related information is essential for improving public health outcomes.

Aim: To assess the relationship between demographic characteristics, label-reading behaviors, comfort in interpreting medication information, and the likelihood of seeking additional health information.

Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was conducted using responses from 150 adults. Variables included age, gender, education level, socioeconomic status, location, frequency of reading medication labels, comfort reading labels, and information-seeking behaviour. Chi square Goodness-of-Fit Test for Demographic Variables, Spearman’s correlation assessed associations between health-literacy behaviors, while binary logistic regression identified independent predictors of seeking additional information.

Results: Chi-square goodness-of-fit tests showed no significant deviations across gender, age, income, or education distributions, indicating that all demographic variables were evenly represented in the sample. Correlation analysis showed no significant relationships between age (ρ = –0.021), education (ρ = 0.062), reading frequency (ρ = 0.074), comfort reading labels (ρ = 0.043), or other variables and information-seeking behavior (all p > 0.05). Binary logistic regression revealed no significant predictors, with none of the demographic or behavioral factors demonstrating a statistically meaningful association with seeking additional medication information (p > 0.05). The model’s predictive power was low (pseudo R² = 0.027).

Conclusion: Information-seeking behavior—an important marker of functional health literacy—is not determined solely by demographic characteristics or basic label-reading behaviors. Health literacy appears to be influenced by broader psychosocial, motivational, and contextual factors. Targeted, multidimensional interventions are needed to enhance medication comprehension and promote informed health decisions across diverse populations.