Health literacy intervention study: The example of the faculty of pharmacy and education

Objective: It is aimed to determine the effects of health education on health literacy (HL) levels between pharmacy and pre-school teachers and to present the proposals in the direction of the obtained results. Material and Method: It is an intervention study to determine the change in health literacy levels after health education. Of the total 256 students who formed the population, 196 were identified by their stratified sampling method and then the appropriate number of students were selected by systematic sampling. A questionnaire consisting of 30 questions prepared according to the literature, Turkey Health Literacy Scale-32 (THLS-32), Health Literacy Scenario Scale (HLSS), Health Perception Scale was used in the study. Results: A total of 197 students participated in the study, 57.9% (n: 114) female and 42.1% (n: 83) male. The total score of HLSS-32 scale was 86,11 ± 19,57. When the faculty scores were examined, the mean of the faculty of pharmacy was 91.50 ± 16.47, and the mean of the faculty of pre-school teacher was 82.79 ± 20.62. The mean score of HLSS scale of the study group was 46,64 ± 25,23. When the HLSS total scores were examined according to the departments, the HLSS total score of the students in the pharmacy faculty was 55,16 ± 25,21 and 41,41 ± 23,88 in the pre-school teacher faculty. Post-education scores of THLS-32 subscales and HLSS scale were significantly higher than pre-education scale scores. Conclusion: While the inadequate and problematic HL levels of the students in the pharmacy department and the preschool teacher department decreased after the health education, sufficient and excellent HL levels were increased. However, a positive correlation was found between the level of HL with health perception levels in the study.