The Effect of Health Literacy on Healthy Living Awareness: The Role of Moderator Variables in Health Program Students

Background Health literacy and healthy lifestyle awareness are essential for maintaining individual well-being. For health sciences students, this awareness is vital not only for their own lives but also as a role model for society. Objective This study aimed to determine the health literacy levels of university students in health programs, examine their effect on healthy lifestyle awareness, and contribute to health education and policy. Methods This descriptive-correlational study was conducted with 396 first- and second-year students of a university health services vocational school between April–July 2025. The target population was the entire student body, and 384 were reached. Ethics approval and course coordinator permissions were obtained prior to the study. Students were informed about the purpose and scope of the research, and voluntary consent was secured. Data were collected via face-to-face interviews in compliance with confidentiality. Instruments included the “Personal Information Form,” “Health Literacy Scale-32,” and “Healthy Lifestyle Awareness Scale.” Data analysis was performed with IBM SPSS 20.0, and moderation analyses with jamovi 2.5.3. Results Mean scores were 32.32 ± 9.68 for health literacy and 57.81 ± 12.08 for healthy lifestyle awareness. Findings showed that higher health literacy significantly increased lifestyle awareness. However, this relationship varied with snacking frequency; as snack intake decreased, the positive impact of health literacy on awareness weakened. Conclusion The study demonstrated positive and significant associations between health literacy and all subdimensions of lifestyle awareness. The findings underscore that enhancing health literacy within health education is critical to promoting healthy behaviors. Clinical trial number Not applicable.