HEALTH literacy level and related factors of adult patients admitted to Turgut Özal Medical center diabetes outpatient clinic

Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the health literacy levels and related factors of adult patients admitted to Turgut Özal Medical Center Diabetes Outpatient Clinic Material and Method: The descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted with 287 diabetic patients. As a data collection tool, a questionnaire aimed at obtaining and evaluating the socio-demographic characteristics and basic knowledge of the participants about diabetes, and the "Turkey Health Literacy Scale-32 (TSOY-32)" was used to determine the health literacy level of the participants. In the study, it is shown as number and percentage values in descriptive and categorical data, and mean±standard deviation (mean±SD) and median (min-max) values in continuous data. The conformity of the data to the normal distribution was evaluated with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Mann Whitney U-test was used to compare paired groups in the analysis of data that did not conform to normal distribution. The Kruskal Wallis test was used to compare more than two variables, and the Spearman correlation test was used for correlation. The statistical significance level in the analyzes was accepted as p<0.05. Results: 51.2% of the participants were male and 48.8% were female. The mean age is 53.8±13.4 years. 15.3% of the participants are illiterate, 47.4% are primary school graduates, 22.3% are high school graduates and 15% are university graduates. The index score average of the TSOY-32 of the participants in the study was 27.8±9.8, and according to the scale category, 36.6% had insufficient health literacy, 32.8% had limited-problematic, 22.6% had adequate and 8% had excellent health literacy. Conclusion: In the study, a significant relationship was found between the participants' TSOY-32 index score and gender, age, marital status, education level, and income status. A negative significant correlation was found between the HbA1c level, which is an indicator of glycemic control, and the TSOY-32 index score in diabetes patients. Key Words: Diabetes, health literacy, adult