Investigation of the relationship between health literacy and quality of life in cancer patients treated in the oncology clinic of a university hospital

Cancer is an important public health problem with high incidence, morbidity, mortality and treatment costs. Access to accurate information about the disease and its course affects the treatment compliance process of patients. In this respect, the concept of health literacy is very important and if health literacy is at a sufficient level, it creates the possibility of early diagnosis of cancer and early treatment. Early treatment may also reduce the negative impact of patients' quality of life. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between health literacy and quality of life in cancer patients treated in Diyarbakır Dicle University Oncology Clinics. The study was conducted with 160 patients who were treated in the specified clinics between September 2020 and July 2021, after obtaining the necessary permissions for this descriptive-cross-sectional study. In order to collect data in the study, Information Form for Introducing Cancer Patients, Rotterdam Symptom Checklist (RSKL), and Turkey Health Literacy-32 (TSOY-32) Scale were used. In the statistical analysis, t-test and analysis of variance were used in independent groups for data with normal distribution, and Kruskal Wallis H and Mann Whitney U tests were used for data that did not. The mean score of the patients participating in the study from the TSOY-32 Scale was 33.82±13.29. According to this result, the health literacy level of cancer patients participating in the study was determined as problematic/limited. The mean RSCL total score of the patients participating in the study was 43.31±18.10. It was found that there was a moderate positive correlation between the RSCL total mean score and the TSOY-32 total score mean (r=0.31, p<0.01). Health professionals have great responsibilities to increase the health literacy level of patients and thus to affect their quality of life. Keywords: Patients, Cancer, Health literacy, Quality of life.