Relationship between health literacy and academic achievements of students in higher classes of secondary school

Topic of the work. Relationship between health literacy and academic achievements of students in higher classes of secondary school. The problem to be researched. The most important results of general education are the academic achievements of students, which have been researched from various points of view for many years (Dabriegaitė and others, 2013). The term “health literacy” was first used in the academic literature in 1974. Its understanding expanded from a narrow view of patient-doctor communication in the healthcare field to the definition formulated by the World Health Organization in 1998 and the levels of health literacy defined later: functional, interactive, critical (Nutbeam, 1998, 2000) and an integrated description of health literacy (Sorensen et al., 2012). Health literacy has not been sufficiently investigated in a comprehensive way. For the most part, the health literacy of patients and adults has been the subject of research, including their connections with health and addictions (Javtokas and others, 2013; Nutbeam et al., 2017). The health literacy of adolescents has been researched by identifying a connection with physical activity, behaviours with risk to health, the condition of health and health education (Liu et al., 2015; Rubene & Goba, 2015). In an updated review of the health literacy of adolescents and youth, it was stated that not enough is known about the health literacy of adolescents and youth (Sansom-Daly et al., 2016). Research on how the health literacy of students is connected with academic achievements was not found, and for that reason a problematic question arises: do relationship exist between the health literacy and academic achievements of students? It is therefore important to investigate the health literacy and academic achievements of students, and to identify the interconnections between them. Purpose of the research. To identify the relationship between the health literacy and academic achievements of students in higher classes of secondary school. Research tasks: 1.To identify the health literacy of students in higher classes of secondary school, and to compare the health literacy of groups according to gender. 2.To identify the academic achievements of students in higher classes of secondary school, and to compare the academic achievements of groups according to gender. 3.To identify the body mass index of students in higher classes of secondary school, and to compare the body mass index of groups according to gender and with their health literacy. 4.To identify the relationship between the health literacy and academic achievements of students in higher classes of secondary school. Questions to be investigated: 1.What is the health literacy of students in higher classes of secondary school? 2.What are the academic achievements of students in higher classes of secondary school? 3.What is the body mass index of students in higher classes of secondary school? 4.What are the relationship between the health literacy and academic achievements of students in higher classes of secondary school? Hypothesis: the academic achievements of students with a higher level of health literacy are better than the academic achievements of students with a lower level of health literacy. Most important results of the research. Having investigated the relationship between the health literacy and academic achievements of students in higher classes of secondary school, the hypothesis was confirmed only in a statistically insignificant way. Conclusions: 1. It was determined that the health literacy of students in higher classes of secondary school is close to the sufficient level for health literacy (HLI – 31.57), and the health literacy of young females is better in a statistically significant way, the level of which is sufficient (HLI – 33.74), while that for young males is problematic (HLI – 29.59). 2. It was determined that 84.1 per cent of students in higher classes of secondary school learn at an excellent or good level, while 3.7 per cent learn at a poor level. Young females learn better in a statistically significant way (average – 8.26) than young males (average – 7.54). 3. It was determined that 88.3 per cent of students in higher classes of secondary school are not overweight in a statistically significant way, every tenth pupil is overweight and only 1.4 per cent are obese. A tendency was observed in which fewer students at a higher level of health literacy tend to be overweight or obese. 4. Statistically significant relationship between the health literacy and academic achievements of students in higher classes of secondary school were not identified. However, a tendency was observed in which the number of students with a very good or sufficient level of health literacy, who learn at an excellent or good level, is larger than the number of such students with an insufficient or problematic level of health literacy