{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,9]],"date-time":"2026-07-09T06:15:43Z","timestamp":1783577743629,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,21]],"date-time":"2022-01-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1642723200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title><jats:p>This study aims to determine the level of fear of coronavirus disease\u20142019 (COVID-19) among the general public in Saudi Arabia and the association of its scores with their level of health literacy.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among the general population in Saudi Arabia from April 2020 to May 2020. A three-part online self-reported survey was used to assess the participants' demographic characteristics, fear of COVID-19 of the participants, and levels of health literacy.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Of the 848 participants, 56.8% were in the age group of 25\u201334, 45.6% were females, and 57.1% had a bachelor's degree. The total mean score of the fear of COVID-19 scale of the participants was FCoV-19: mean \u00b1 SD = 19.60 \u00b1 7.33 and the health literacy was HL index: mean \u00b1 SD = 27.57 \u00b1 11.05. There was a significant difference in the scores of fear of COVID-19 scale in terms of age (<jats:italic>F<\/jats:italic> = 2.442, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> = 0.050), representing that those aged 45 and above had higher mean fear scores than the younger participants. The analysis revealed that an increased level of fear of COVID-19 was associated with older age (<jats:italic>B<\/jats:italic> = 1.87; <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> = 0.020), being unemployed (<jats:italic>B<\/jats:italic> = 0.76; <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> = 0.023), with no formal education (<jats:italic>B<\/jats:italic> = 0.89; <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> = 0.001), and low level of health literacy (<jats:italic>B<\/jats:italic> = 0.02; <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> = 0.021).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>The study shows an above-average level of fear of COVID-19 of the general public in Saudi Arabia and its association with a low level of functional health literacy. Timely and comprehensive health interventions should be promoted to enhance the level of health literacy and further reduce the level of fear of COVID-19 in the community.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2021.740625","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,21]],"date-time":"2022-01-21T06:03:33Z","timestamp":1642745013000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["Association of Fear of COVID-19 and Health Literacy Among the General Public in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Assessment"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"9","author":[{"given":"Mahaman L.","family":"Moussa","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fatchima Laouali","family":"Moussa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Homood 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