Relationship among fear of COVID-19, health literacy, and COVID-19 survivors' quality of life

10.30207/AHLA.202312.0019

Benedicta Audrey Putri Trisnadewi；Endang Widyorini；Margaretha Sih Setija Utami；Daniswara Agusta Wijaya；Josephine Ferren Heryanto

COVID-19 survivors ； fear of COVID-19 ； health literacy ； quality of life

The Proceeding of the 9th AHLA International Health Literacy Conference: Health Literacy and Social Resilience

2023（2023 / 12 / 01）

20 - 20

英文

Background: COVID-19 pandemic affected humans in all aspects, including the survivors' quality of life. COVID-19 survivors were afraid of COVID-19 due to their experience dealing with the symptoms. Besides, the survivors also had to learn a lot of information regarding COVID-19 to avoid misinformation and confusion regarding the treatments and post-infection recovery. Previous studies found that prolonged COVID-19 fear could lead to life functions and mental health impairment, thus worsening their quality of life. It was also found that health literacy helped the survivors to engage in healthy and active behaviors to improve their level of functioning post-infection, which leads to improved quality of life. Objectives: This study aims to determine the relationship between fear of COVID-19, health literacy, and COVID-19 survivors' quality of life. Method: This study was conducted on 248 people aged 17-66 years old. The instruments used were FCV-19S, health literacy scale, and SF-36. Linear regression and Pearson product-moment correlation were used to analyze the data. Result: Analysis found that there is a significant relationship between fear of COVID-19 and health literacy with quality of life (R= .327, p= .000). Health literacy is positively related to the quality of life (r= .150, p= .018), and fear of COVID-19 is negatively related to the quality of life (r= -.306, p= .000). Independent variables explain 10,7% of the dependent variable. Conclusion: It can be concluded that COVID-19 survivors' quality of life is affected by their fear of COVID-19 and health literacy regarding COVID-19. COVID-19 survivors are suggested to seek professional help regarding their fear of COVID-19 and improve their health literacy for a better quality of life.