# The Impact of Hospital Volunteers’ Health Promotion Programs on Health Literacy and Quality of Life

## TL;DR

A health literacy program for hospital volunteers improved their understanding of health topics and boosted their quality of life, especially psychological well-being.

## Contribution

This study demonstrates the effectiveness of a targeted health literacy intervention in improving volunteers' health knowledge and well-being.

## Key findings

- The experimental group showed significant improvements in health literacy aspects like medication and symptom vocabulary.
- The program enhanced psychological well-being and overall quality of life in the experimental group.
- The control group experienced a decline in health literacy dimensions, unlike the experimental group.

## Abstract

Background: This study investigated whether a health literacy intervention program could improve the health literacy and quality of life among hospital volunteers. The study also explored the impact of health literacy on hospital volunteers’ health and psychological well-being. Methods: Overall, 35 hospital volunteers were recruited and divided into an experimental group (n = 22) and a control group (n = 13). The experimental group participated in an 8-week health literacy intervention program, which covered topics such as medication information, physiological and symptom-related vocabulary, and disease representation. The control group did not receive any intervention. A questionnaire survey was conducted to assess participants’ health literacy and quality of life before and after the intervention, and the comparison between two groups was statistically analyzed. Results: The experimental group showed significant improvements in multiple aspects of health literacy, particularly in medication information, physiology vocabulary, symptom vocabulary, and signs vocabulary (p < 0.05). In terms of quality of life, the experimental group demonstrated significant enhancements in psychological well-being and overall quality of life (p < 0.05). In contrast, the control group exhibited a downward trend in most health literacy dimensions with a significant decline in organ vocabulary (p < 0.05) and no significant changes in quality of life. Conclusions: The health literacy intervention program effectively improved hospital volunteers’ health literacy and quality of life with particularly notable effects on psychological well-being and the understanding of health-related professional terminology. By enhancing hospital volunteers’ health literacy and quality of life, healthcare organizations can foster more effective, sustainable, and satisfactory service quality.