Health Literacy Level and Related Factors Among Pregnant Women Referring to Bojnord Health Centers in 2017 Publisher



Hakkak HM¹ ; Joveini H² ; Rajabzadeh R³ ; Robatsarpooshi D⁴ ; Tori NA⁵ ; Haresabadi M⁶ ; Hosseini SH^{7, 8} Show Affiliations
Source: International Journal of Pharmaceutical Research Published:2019

Abstract

It is generally accepted that health literacy is a vital and modifiable factor in improvement of access to health information, communication with healthcare providers and orientation towards a healthcare system. Moreover, it is a central element in the capacity of a woman to involve with health promotion activities and to prevent herself and her children. These will be difficult or impossible without an adequate understanding of healthcare information. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to determine the health literacy level and its related factors among pregnant women referring to health centers in Bojnord in 2017. The present descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study was conducted in 2017 among pregnant women referring to health centers in Bojnord, Iran. The sample size was 394 people who were selected using a multistage sampling (stratified and simple randomized) method. A two-part questionnaire was used to collect data. The data were analyzed by SPSS version 20 software using descriptive (mean, standard deviation and frequency) and analytic (independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance and linear regression) statistics.According to the findings, the mean age of the participants in the study was 26.69±5.85 and their mean health literacy score was 76.89±12.09. The health literacy of 387 (98.2%) was at optimal level. The linear regression results revealed a significant relationship between health literacy and age and educational level of pregnant women (P<0.05). This study demonstrated that the health literacy was a great deal in most of the women under study. However, the importance of health literacy in women and maternal health highlights that the health authorities in the country need to develop appropriate educational programs to promote the health literacy level and to empower this stratum. © 2019, Advanced Scientific Research. All rights reserved.