A study on the comparison of health literacy levels of health workers and teachers

Health literacy is the ability of society to benefit from health services, the steps to be taken while benefiting, maintaining a good state after treatment, and complying with the rules to be followed for health precautions while continuing their daily lives or especially during epidemic periods. Health literacy in the community The failure to comply with isolation measures and the inability to control the contagion due to the waves of epidemics experienced during the COVID period make us question the state of health literacy. Of course, it is difficult to measure the health literacy of society due to the limitations we have. Generalization was made through the subject groups, and two groups were determined by means of a questionnaire. When determining the subject groups, two groups with high education levels and close proximity to each other were determined. When there is a general health problem in society, the first group to apply or ask a question is the health professionals. The other group is the teachers, who are always with us and guide us in our careers starting in primary school. Due to reasons such as health professionals being in the sector, being in direct contact with patients, having received health education, and teachers following health courses and up-to-date information, health care professionals are classified according to their branch, age, gender, income and expenditure status, and social security. It was aimed at determining differences in literacy level. As a matter of fact, 807 people working as health workers and teachers in public institutions participated in the questionnaire, which consisted of 39 questions in two parts using a five-point Likert scale. By using the SPSS program, reliability, factor, and regression analyses were performed, and it was determined that the level of health literacy showed significant differences according to branches, genders, and income levels. According to the age of the participants, it was found that there was a negative and low-power relationship with the increase in age among the teachers.