JOMPAC
Journal of Medicine and Palliative Care

Journal of Medicine and Palliative Care (JOMPAC) is an open access scientific journal with independent, unbiased, and double-blind review under international guidelines. The purpose of JOMPAC is to contribute to the literature by publishing articles on health sciences and medicine.

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Original Article
Exploring health literacy and associated factors among individuals registered in family health centers in Batman province
Abstract
Aims: Health literacy is often defined as one’s capacity to obtain, interpret, and understand basic health information and services to preserve, improve, or recover their health and their ability to make the right choices regarding their health. In this study, we attempted to explore health literacy and associated factors among individuals registered in primary health centers.
Methods: We carried out this cross-sectional study with individuals registered in family health centers in Batman province between October 2018 and March 2019. After obtaining ethical approval from the relevant ethics committee, we collected the data from the participants with a sociodemographic information form and the Turkish version of the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (HLS-EU-Q).
Results: Our findings revealed that 62.3% (n=301) of the participants were females, 52.0% (n=251) held an undergraduate or higher degree, and 17.6% (n=85) had a high monthly income. The participants’ mean age was 33.1±11.8 years (18-78 years), and 62.1% (n=300) were younger than 35 years. We discovered that the younger participants (p=0.003), those with higher educational attainment (p=0.001), and those without chronic disease (p=0.005) had significantly greater health literacy. Given gender and other sociodemographic characteristics demonstrating significant relationships with health literacy, our logistic regression findings also showed that income level, perceived socioeconomic and health status, and reading enjoyment had significant impacts on the participants’ sufficient/excellent health literacy level.
Conclusion: Thus, the results of this research and prospective studies would further facilitate developing policies for boosting health literacy to protect public health and alleviate inequalities in accessing healthcare services.

Keywords : Health literacy, primary care, research

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Article available in :
Volume 4, Issue 5, 2023
Page : 478-484
https://doi.org/10.47582/jompac.1333813
Article Information
Received : 28 Tem 2023
Accepted : 22 Eyl 2023
Published : 27 Eki 2023
Corresponding Author :

Sercan Bulut Çelik: Batman GAP Family Health Center, Batman, Turkey

[email protected]
Citation : Bulut Çelik S, Erten Bucaktepe PG. Exploring health literacy and associated factors among individuals registered in family health centers in Batman province. J Med Palliat Care. 2023;4(5):478-484.

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