Comparison of health literacy levels of individuals residing in Niğde according to their sociodemographic characteristics

The purpose of this study is to ensure that individuals living in Niğde Province can receive appropriate health care when they are sick in order to live a healthy life, and that when they are given medical information, they understand and interpret this information and behave accordingly. It is not limited to the individual reading and understanding a brochure or prescription given to him, but it is aimed to evaluate people in terms of being able to define their own health, knowing their disease, making appropriate decisions about their health, knowing how to use the health system and how to benefit from this system. The research is a cross-sectional study to compare the health literacy levels of individuals residing in Niğde province according to their sociodemographic characteristics. The study was started with the preliminary permission obtained from Niğde Training and Research Hospital and the research permission obtained from Niğde Provincial Health Directorate. 518 people between the ages of 18-65 living in Niğde Province were reached. 58 of the people reached were not included in the study because they worked in the professional health field. The survey form used in the research; It consists of two parts: demographic characteristics of the people and Türkiye Health Literacy Scale (SOY)-32. The survey forms were administered under observation after preliminary information was given to the individuals and their consent forms were obtained. SPSSv29.0 version was used in data entry and statistical evaluation. As a result of comparing the health literacy levels of individuals living in Niğde according to their sociodemographic characteristics, 52% of the participants living in Niğde had inadequate health literacy, 20.4% had problematic-limited health literacy, 14.1% had adequate health literacy, according to the Turkish Health Literacy Scale. literacy and 13.5% were found to have excellent health literacy.