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THE ROLE OF HEALTH LITERACY IN CARE FOR HEALTH AMONG THE ROMA

J. Manhalova, L. Rolantova, D. Urban, J. Vackova, D. Kimmer

Abstract

Background: Although the health is considered to be the highest value in our individual lives, the health care is often neglected. Health care is closely connected with health literacy which has been, especially recently, growing more as an integral part of evaluation of quality of life as well as our societal state. The Roma people who are the largest ethnic minority in the Czech Republic, population of which has never been a homogenous group comprised of only one ethnicity, are often mentioned in association with the problem of care for their own health. The aim of this submission is to present interim results of research mapping the health literacy in selected South Bohemian population groups and to present the value of health as well as a role of health literacy in health care of the Roma people living in the Czech Republic, especially in the South Bohemian Region. Methods: This submission presents interim results of the project titled Health Literacy in Selected South Bohemian Population Groups (SDZ2016), which is being implemented by the Research and Development Department (RVO) at the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences of the South Bohemia University from 2016 to 2019. The research project has been implemented by the means of qualitative method with the aid of semi-structured interview technique. The research cohort comprising of 20 probands has been designed based on selection of three fixed quotas - gender, age, and education. A fundamental criterion for inclusion of respondents into the cohort has been their Roma ethnic origin and their willingness to participate. The research cohort enrolled respondents of age ranging from 18 to 72 years, living in the Czech Republic in the South Bohemian region. Data collection was carried out in the period from April to May 2016. Results: The results showed that health along with family is declared as the highest value in the probands lives. Limited health literacy, which is associated with their social gradient, influences their health and deepens existing inequalities in health that respondents describe as discrimination. They perceive their own health literacy to be high, but they do nothing to maintain good health, and they lack sufficient knowledge as well as motivation and even competence to acquire, understand, evaluate, and especially apply information concerning health so that they can act in favour of maintenance or improvement of their own health. Conclusion: Even though these results are only preliminary and cannot be generalized to the whole Roma population, we can suggest that Roma people’s health literacy, which influences their health, is rated worse in comparison with other groups, although Roma people themselves consider the value of health to be one of the highest among their set of values.

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