The relationship between teachers' attitudes towards traditional/complementary medicine practices and health perception and health literacy

Introduction: This study was conducted to examine the relationship between primary school teachers' attitudes towards traditional complementary medicine practices and health perception and health literacy. Materials and Methods: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted with 420 primary school teachers working in schools in Afyonkarahisar Central district between December 1, 2020 and February 28, 2021. In the questionnaire used in this research; There are questions about the sociodemographic characteristics of the patients, Traditional Complementary Medicine, Traditional Complementary Medicine attitude scale, Health Perception scale and Health Literacy scale. SPSS 26 package program was used for statistical analysis and p<0.05 was considered significant. Results: The mean age of the teachers participating in the study was 39.34±7.81 years. 52.4% (n=220) of the teachers are female, 47.6% (n=200) are male. 80% of the teachers (n=336) are married. The rate of participants who knew/heard of Traditional Complementary Medicine (TCM) methods was 61.7% (n=259). The most well-known TCM method is cupping therapy (79.9% n=207). It was determined that 60% of the teachers found TCM methods useful, and 27.6% used at least one TCM method. It was determined that the most used TCM method was phytotherapy (66.3% n=77). The teachers' CACMAS Scale mean score was 112.04±16.46, Health Perception Scale mean score was 49.26±6.43, Adult Health Literacy Scale mean score was 17.33±3.46. A low positive correlation was found between the Adult Health Literacy Scale score and the CACMAS Scale score (p<0.001, r=0.293). A low positive correlation was found between the Adult Health Literacy Scale score and the Health Perception Scale (p<0.001, r=0.331). A low positive correlation was found between the CACMAS Scale and the Health Perception Scale (p<0.001, r=0.139). It was determined that when the scores of the participants on one scale increased, the scores on the other scales also increased. Discussion and Conclusion: It was determined that as teachers' knowledge about TCM methods increased, their TCM attitude also increased. According to the research findings, it was determined that as the health literacy and health perception level of the teachers increased, their attitudes towards traditional complementary medicine also increased positively.