How to improve public health literacy based on polycentric public goods theory: preferences of the Chinese general population

Abstract Background In the current era of big data, it is critical to address people’s demand for health literacy. At present, the traditional mode of communicating scientific health knowledge and information technology is interchangeable, resulting in the emergence of a new mode of communicating health literacy. To publicize health education and health literacy in a targeted way, to meet the public’s needs, and to understand how the public’s demand for subjects, contents, and forms of health literacy service has changed in the era of COVID-19, the investigation of public’s demand for health information and health literacy was conducted. Objective This study aims to understand the differences in demand for health literacy service providers, contents, channels, forms, and facilities among Chinese citizens with different genders, ages, education levels, economic conditions, and living environments, and to provide reasonable recommendations for developing public health literacy. Methods