Abstract:
Objective To investigate the climate change health literacy level of residents in Changzhi City, Shanxi Province, analyze its influencing factors, and to provide a reference for climate policy planning by relevant departments.
Methods After a cluster analysis of streets/towns in Changzhi in October 2023, a community of 208 permanent residents with medium population density and medium vegetation cover was randomly selected to conduct a climate change health literacy questionnaire survey. The climate change health literacy level and influencing factors were analyzed using multivariable logistic regression.
Results The climate change health literacy level of Changzhi residents in 2023 was 36.1%. Among the three dimensions, the level of basic knowledge of climate change was 38.9%, the level of climate change protection and action literacy was 27.4%, and the level of green and low-carbon lifestyle literacy was 25.5%, with a statistically significant difference (χ2=12.27, P < 0.05). The multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that the probability of possessing climate change health literacy was relatively high among residents with high annual household income, few cohabiting family members, having heard of carbon peak and carbon neutrality, willing to learn about the causes of climate change and mitigation measures, and willing to learn about the impacts of climate change on health and adaptive preventive measures, with the odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) being 6.68 (2.08-21.53), 61.30 (16.72-224.79), 6.07 (1.46-25.17), 9.35 (2.72-32.15), and 7.21 (2.29-22.69), respectively. In addition, both the actual and preferred channels for obtaining climate change-related information among Changzhi residents were primarily the Internet (56.7% for actual channel and 47.6% for desired channel).
Conclusion Residents of Changzhi have high levels of concern about climate change and willingness to participate in climate protection, but the awareness of climate change-related knowledge and the level of climate change health literacy still need to be improved. It is recommended to improve their climate change health literacy through strategies such as policy incentives and multi-channel publicity, so as to provide a strong public opinion base for promoting the green and low-carbon transformation in China.