{
  "abstract": "Introduction: Health literacy represents individuals’ ability to understand and use health information. It is related to health behaviors and outcomes; therefore, its monitoring is important. This analysis investigated health literacy among Italian adolescents using data collected within a broader study on adolescents’ vaccination and its determinants.\n\nMethods: A secondary analysis of a broader cross-sectional study on adolescent vaccination was conducted. The online survey ran from 23 April to 9 June 2024 in lower secondary schools in Umbria. The Regional School Office contacted all 72 schools; 18 participated (25.0%). The questionnaire was distributed through schools’ electronic registers to third-year students and their parents. Of 6,996 eligible adolescents, 340 completed the mandatory 29-item MOHLAA-Q (4.9%). The Italian MOHLAA-Q was translated by authors. No independent validation, back-translation, or cognitive testing was performed; the original instrument was validated in adolescents aged 14–17 years. Descriptive analyses used exploratory proportional-odds ordinal logistic regression with school-clustered standard errors.\n\nResults: Among 340 adolescents, 53.3% reported some and 17.6% many difficulties in dealing with health-related information (Scale A), while 25.3% reported few and 3.8% barely/no difficulties. For communication and interaction skills (Scale B), 8.2% were classified as low, 28.5% moderate, 31.2% rather high, and 32.1% high. For attitudes toward health and health information (Scale C), 2.9% were passive, 45.9% partly passive–partly active, and 51.2% active. For health-related knowledge (Scale D), 51.5% were classified as low, 40.9% moderate, and 7.6% high. Exploratory ordinal analyses identified associations with selected adolescent and family characteristics, including adolescent sex for Scale A and parental health literacy for Scale D; findings were considered hypothesis-generating.\n\nConclusion: In this opportunistic, non-representative regional sample, difficulties in dealing with health-related information and low health-related knowledge were relatively common, while communication skills and attitudes showed more favorable distributions. Findings provide descriptive evidence on health-literacy domains among younger adolescents in Umbria but should be interpreted cautiously given the low individual response rate, non-representative recruitment, use of a translated but not formally validated MOHLAA-Q in a younger age group, and exploratory associations. Further studies using age-appropriate, validated instruments and representative samples are warranted.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Perugia",
    "Department of Health Sciences, University of Florence"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 8,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Carlotta Bertola"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Vito Cerabona"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Leonardo Bronzetti"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Francesco Paciosi"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Giancarlo Pocetta"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Ilaria Valentini"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Manuela Chiavarini"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Chiara de Waure"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8r0wtsqcca9ac.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3389/fpubh.2026.1925432",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "8r0wtsqcca9ac",
  "issns": [
    "2296-2565"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1925432/full",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "3600|Health Literacy and Information Accessibility"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7223934022",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1925432/pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-27",
  "publisher": "Frontiers Media SA",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8r0wtsqcca9ac.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:20:24Z",
      "native_id": "10.3389/fpubh.2026.1925432",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1925432/full"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "issn:2296-2565",
      "subfield": "epidemiology-public-health"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Health literacy among early adolescents in Umbria, Italy: a cross-sectional study",
  "title_text": "Health literacy among early adolescents in Umbria, Italy: a cross-sectional study",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:20:24Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8r0wtsqcca9ac",
  "venue": "Frontiers in Public Health",
  "versions": []
}