Evaluation of the effects of people registered to the family health center on the general health screening and health perception
Zeliha Alagöz Ekti, Nazlı Şensoy
Keywords: Health Literacy, Health Screenings, Health Perception, Family Health Center
Aim:
In our study, we aimed to determine the health literacy (HL) level and related factors of the participants and to evaluate the effect of HL level on health perception and health screening.
Method:
This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in 5 different Family Health Centers on 1 August-30 September 2019 with 300 patients aged 18-65.The survey included socio-demographic data, questions that assess general literacy status, questions that measure participation in cancer screenings and other preventive medicine recommendations, European Health Literacy Survey (HLS-EU), and Health Perception Scale (HPS). The SPSS 20 program was used for statistical analysis and p<0.05 value was considered significant.
Results:
The mean age of the participants was 39.1±12.9, 53% were women, 76.7% were married, 31% were housewives, 35% were university graduates.The level of HL individuals participate in the study was 31.07±7.61 and corresponds to the 'problematic-limited' HL level. The HL level of the participants was compared with the sociodemographic variables. It was determined that the HL level was higher in young people, singles, people with higher education, and income levels (p<0.001). The mean HPS score of the participants was found to be 48.83±8.85 and it was noted that the HL level showed a positive correlation with the health perception (r=0,445; p=0,001). Also, it was determined that the level of HL didn’t have a significant effect on individuals' screening for breast, cervical, and colon cancer, but it had a positive effect on getting a flu vaccination every year and going to dentist control once a year (p <0.05).
Conclusions:
It was determined that 61.7% of the participant’s HL was inadequate or limited-problematic. Turkey HLS and a study including eight European countries reported that HL of participants is either inadequate or limited problematic with 64.6% and 47.6%, respectively. The results obtained from our study showed that inadequate HL is a universal problem.
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