Table 5

Awareness of antibiotic resistance and level of health literacy among non-medical students

Awareness of antibiotic resistance	Level of health literacy, n=467								χ²	P value†
	Total		Inadequate		Problematic		Sufficient
	N*	%	n*	%	n*	%	n*	%
Have you heard of any of the following terms
Antibiotic resistance	496		n=462
			n=72		n=228		n=162
No	196	39.5	28	38.9	94	41.2	63	38.9	2.904	0.574
Yes	215	43.3	29	40.3	104	45.6	71	43.8
Don’t know	85	17.1	15	20.8	30	13.2	28	17.3
Superbugs	496		n=461
			n=72		n=228		n=161
No	281	56.7	44	61.1	136	59.6	83	51.6	7.965	0.093
Yes	106	21.4	10	13.9	54	23.7	37	23
Don’t know	109	22	18	25	38	16.7	41	25.5
Antimicrobial resistance	496		n=461
			n=73		n=228		n=160
No	235	47.4	41	56.2	112	49.1	69	43.1	6.857	0.144
Yes	152	30.6	15	20.5	75	32.9	52	32.5
Don’t know	109	22	17	23.3	41	18	39	24.4
Drug resistance	497		n=462
			n=73		n=228		n=161
No	201	40.4	36	49.3	96	42.1	56	34.8	11.689	0.02
Yes	185	37.2	22	30.1	95	41.7	59	36.6
Don’t know	111	22.3	15	20.5	37	16.2	46	28.6
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria	490		n=455
			n=73		n=224		n=158
No	165	33.7	30	41.1	75	33.5	51	32.3	6.488	0.166
Yes	219	44.7	26	35.6	112	50	70	44.3
Don’t know	106	21.6	17	23.3	37	16.5	37	23.4
Please indicate whether you think the following statements are ‘true’ or ‘false’
‘Antibiotic resistance occurs when your body becomes resistant to antibiotics and they no longer work as well’ n=491			n=457
	n=491		n=73		n=224		n=160
False	55	11.2	8	11	27	12.1	15	9.4	3.966	0.411
True	282	57.4	42	57.5	120	53.6	102	63.7
Don’t know	154	31.4	23	31.5	77	34.4	43	26.9
‘Many infections are becoming increasingly resistant to treatment by antibiotics’ n=490			n=455
	n=490		n=73		n=223		n=159
False	65	13.3	10	13.7	24	10.8	24	15.1	2.082	0.721
True	249	50.8	35	47.9	120	53.8	80	50.3
Don’t know	176	35.9	28	38.4	79	35.4	55	34.6
‘If bacteria are resistant to antibiotics, it can be very difficult or impossible to treat the infections they cause’ n=492			n=457
	n=492		n=73		n=224		n=160
False	108	22	16	21.9	54	24.1	33	20.6	0.931	0.92
True	222	45.1	32	43.8	102	45.5	75	46.9
Don’t know	162	32.9	25	34.2	68	30.4	52	32.5
‘Antibiotic resistance is an issue that could affect me or my family’ n=492			n=457
	n=492		n=73		n=224		n=160
False	55	11.2	5	6.8	27	12.1	19	1.9	5.824	0.213
True	313	63.6	52	71.2	148	66.1	93	58.1
Don’t know	124	25.2	16	21.9	49	21.9	48	30
‘Antibiotic resistance is an issue in other countries but not here’ n=492			n=457
	n=492		n=73		n=225		n=159
False	161	32.7	31	42.5	72	32	47	29.6	8.127	0.087
True	132	26.8	12	16.4	69	30.7	41	25.8
Don’t know	199	40.4	30	41.1	84	37.3	71	44.7
‘Antibiotic resistance is only a problem for people who take antibiotics regularly’ n=492			n=457
	n=492		n=73		n=225		n=159
False	101	20.5	16	31.9	37	16.4	42	26.4	7.678	0.104
True	213	43.3	35	47.9	106	47.1	59	37.1
Don’t know	178	36.2	22	30.1	82	36.4	58	36.5
‘Bacteria which are resistant to antibiotics can be spread from person to person’ n=492			n=457
	n=492		n=73		n=225		n=159
False	85	17.3	20	37.4	35	15.6	23	14.5	8.482	0.075
True	180	36.6	23	31.5	78	34.7	66	41.5
Don’t know	227	46.1	30	41.1	112	49.8	70	44
‘Antibiotic-resistant infections could make medical procedures like surgery, organ transplants and cancer treatment much more dangerous’ n=481			n=446
	n=481		n=73		n=217		n=156
False	36	7.5	8	11	15	6.9	11	7.1	7.558	0.109
True	234	48.6	43	58.9	104	47.9	69	44.2
Don’t know	211	43.9	22	30.1	98	45.2	76	48.7
Do you think antibiotics are widely used in agriculture (including in food-producing animals) in your country? n=483			n=451
	n=483		n=69		n=222		n=160
Yes	186	38.5	27	39.1	85	38.3	60	37.5	2.609	0.625
No	37	7.7	3	4.3	15	6.8	16	10
Don’t know	260	53.8	39	56.5	122	55	84	52.5

Correct answers are italicised.
Students’ responses to questions about antibiotic resistance are presented in figures 1 and 2.
Statistically significant P-values ≤0.05 are in bold.
*Some values are missing, missing data not included.
†χ² test.