Determination of health literacy level among adults in the district of Şehzadeler Community Health Center in Manisa

Determination of Health Literacy Level among Adults in the District of Şehzadeler Community Health Center in Manisa Object: The aim of this study was to determine the effective factors and level of Health Literacy among 18 years old and older adults living in the province of Manisa. Materials and Method: This cross-sectional study is conducted in population consisted of 126.752 adults who was aged 18 years and older in Şehzadeler Community Health Center in Manisa. Sample size of the study was determined as 412 adults according to 95% confidence interval, 5% sampling error, expected frequency of inadequate health literacy as 24.5% and design effect 1.45 in Epi-info-Statcalc program. Cluster sampling method was used in the research. The participation rate in the survey was 81.5% (n = 336). The health literacy level of the participants was assessed using the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (HLS-EU-47). Chi square test, T test, Anova test, Kruskal Wallis test, Mann-Whitney test, Logistic regression analysis were used for data analysis. Results: The mean age of the participants was 46.7 ± 15.6, 72.0 % female, 68.8 % lower social class, 75.3 % married, 11.6 % uneducated, 5.2% not having health insurance. Among all participants, 27.1 % showed inadequate HL, 48.8 % problematic HL, 21.6 % sufficient HL, and 2.4 % excellent HL. HL was associated with almost all sociodemographic variables and lifestyle characteristics. Low health literacy was associated with more admissions to 1-day clinics, more admissions emergency department and more hospitalization. As a result of multivariate analysis, low health literacy was significant associated with age, low educational level, low income, low social class and more hospitalization in the model. Conclusion: As a result, the health literacy level of almost half of the research group is problematic and 27.1% inadequate. Only 24.1% were found to have adequate level of health literacy. Higher age, low income, low educational level and low social status are affecting the level of health literacy negatively. In addition, low health literacy is related to the frequency of hospitalization for health service use.