Bridging the Health Information–Practice Gap: Determinants of Healthy-Living Competencies among Adults in Oyo and Ondo States, Nigeria.

Abstract

This study investigated factors associated with healthy-living competencies among adults in Oyo and Ondo States, Nigeria, focusing on access to health information, information appraisal, health decision-making and application of health information to everyday practices. A descriptive survey design was adopted, involving 456 adults selected from urban and semi-urban communities across the two states. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire measuring health information access, information appraisal, health decision-making, self-care competence and healthy-living practices. Data were analyzed using frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation, while chi-square tests examined associations between health-information variables and healthy-living competencies at the 0.05 significance level. Findings showed that 63.6% of respondents demonstrated adequate capacity to access and understand health information, whereas 51.1% demonstrated adequate information-appraisal ability. Overall, 55.0% demonstrated satisfactory healthy-living competencies. Significant associations were observed between access to credible health information and healthy-living competencies (χ² (1) = 16.29, p < 0.001), information-appraisal ability and healthy-living competencies (χ² (1) = 19.17, p < 0.001), and health decision-making ability and healthy-living competencies (χ² (1) = 14.52, p < 0.001). The study concludes that access to credible information, critical appraisal and health decision-making are significantly associated with healthy-living competencies. It recommends strengthening practical health education, information-appraisal skills and community-based lifelong learning initiatives to improve the translation of health information into sustained healthy practices.