Determine the relationship between the nutrition and healty literacy level of healty professionals and their diet quality i̇ndex

This study was conducted to determination of the relationship between the nutrition and health literacy level of health professionals and their diet quality index. The universe of the study consisted of 125 voluntarily participating personnel employed at Medicalpark Tokat Hospital including doctors, nurses, dieticians, chemists, emergency medical technicians, dental technicians, laboratorians, and radiology technicians. The data of the study was collected from September, 2020 to December 2020. The researcher collected data on sociodemographic facts, general health condition, usual habits, and dietary habits of the participants by using a questionnaire developed and administered in person by the researcher herself and height and weight were measured and recorded by the researcher, too. In order to determine the dietary conditions of the participants, the Prevalence of Nutrient Intake Form and Daily Nutrient Intake Record Form were used. To determine the diet quality of the subjects, Healthy Eating Index-2010 was used while the Evaluation Instrument of Nutrition Literacy on Adults and Turkish Health Literacy Scale were used to determine the nutrition literacy and health literacy of the participants, respectively. The mean age of the participants was 33.2±0.983 and while 64,8% of them were women, 35.2% men. When the Body Mass Index (BMI) of the participants was evaluated, it was determined that 50.4 % of them were pre-obese; 42. 4 % normal; 6.4% Class 1 obese and 8.4 % thin. The mean of the Health Eating Index of the participants was determined to be 66.1 ±12.11 while it was 68.13±11.86 for women and 62.39±11.80 for men. There was a significant difference in the mean of the Healthy Eating Index by gender (p<0.05). It was also determined that there was a significant difference in the mean of Healthy Eating Index by educational status (p<0.05). The point average for the Healthy Eating Index of the participants holding a PH degree, which is 78.62±6.95, is statistically higher than that of high school graduates, which is 65.09±12.61 and that of undergraduate degree holders, which is 63.35±10.56 while it was not significantly different from that of Master's degree holders, which is 72.08±9.94, and that of the specialist doctors in medicine, which is 72.21±14.22. The median point of the Evaluation Instrument of Nutrition Literacy on Adults for the female participants was 32 while it was 31 for male participants, which indicated no significant difference statically (p>0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the median point of the Evaluation Instrument of Nutrition Literacy on Adults by occupation (p<0.05). The median point of Evaluation Instrument of Nutrition Literacy on Adults for doctors was 32, for health technicians 30.5 and for medical paramedics 29, which indicated a significantly difference while that of nurses at 31 and that of chemists at 32.5 meant no significant difference. According to the Healthy Eating Index classification, there was no significantly difference in the median points of Evaluation Instrument of Nutrition Literacy on Adults of the participants (p>0.05). The results obtained from the application of Turkish Health Literacy Scale showed that 27.2% of the participants were classified as Bothered-Limited, 32 % Sufficient and 40.8 % Perfect. According to the Healthy Eating Index classification, there was no statistically significant difference in the Turkish Health Literacy points (p>0.05). In conclusion, although it has been determined that the levels of nutrition and health literacy of the health professionals did not have a significant that the women subjects and those with a high level of education have a higher level of diet quality. Keywords: Nutrition literacy, health literacy, diet quality index, health professionals