Health Information Literacy of the University of Namibia’s Students

Abstract

This article presents the findings of a study on the health information literacy of students at the University of Namibia main campus. The study was conducted between 2013 and 2014 and consisted of two hundred and seventy one (271) participants aged between 17-19 years old. The quantitative study used a self-administered questionnaire to collect data. The findings show that the majority of the respondents strongly believed that health information is important and they were able to seek health information. They also strongly agreed that they knew where to seek health information and they liked to get health information from a variety of sources. The respondents indicated that they were more comfortable getting information from the Internet than print sources. A gap in health information literacy was revealed by the fact that the respondents found it difficult to know who to believe in health issues, suggesting difficulties in critically evaluating the health information and sources. The study concludes that although UNAM students appeared knowledgeable in some health information issues, there are some gaps which need to be addressed. The study therefore recommends Kickbusch’s (2008) three way intervention strategy which comprises of culture and society, health and education systems to address the existing gaps in health information literacy.