Date of Award
5-2025
Degree Type
Honors College Thesis
Academic Program
Biological Sciences BS
Department
Biological Sciences
First Advisor
Sharon Young, Ph.D.
Advisor Department
Anthropology and Sociology
Abstract
Health literacy is an individual’s ability to understand medical information to make decisions regarding their health, and it has become an important topic of discussion in the medical field. This is because people with low health literacy are more likely to be in poor health. There have been several programs aimed at improving health literacy across the US, but health literacy varies geographically. Typically, urban areas have higher health literacy rates than rural areas since rural areas have less access to health resources and health care. Almost 80% of Mississippi’s counties are considered rural, and Mississippi has some of the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the United States. This research project surveyed 110 residents in Clinton (an urban area) and Monticello (a rural area), MS about their knowledge of STIs to determine their STI health literacy. Participants were recruited from each community both online and in person to complete an online STI health literacy survey that included original questions as well as questions adapted from other health literacy studies, and the data was analyzed using a multiple linear regression model. The variables included in the model were location, age, gender, race, education level, and STI health literacy score. Age, race, location, and education level were not shown to have a significant effect on STI health literacy. However, female participants had significantly higher STI health literacy scores than male participants which is consistent with the current literature on gender and health literacy. Although Clinton is the tenth largest city in Mississippi, location may have not been significant since Clinton is not a true urban area. These findings could help pinpoint areas where Mississippi’s STI health literacy can be improved.
Copyright
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Recommended Citation
Tucker, Leah, "Comparing Urban and Rural Mississippi Residents’ Health Literacy of Sexually Transmitted Infections" (2025). Honors Theses. 1040.
https://aquila.usm.edu/honors_theses/1040