Exploring health literacy in patients with Non-Communicable Disease in South Lebanon

Abstract

Patients’ health literacy has a significant effect on both their self-care and health care outcomes. Low health literacy among patients has been associated with poor self-management and consequently more disease complications. There are limited data regarding this issue in Lebanon, which impacts negatively the health policy plan and imposes risk on health outcomes, thus making the topic vital to investigate.The purpose: is to explore health literacy level in South of Lebanon among adult patients suffering from non-communicable diseases, in order to detect areas that need to be elaborated in planning health education instructions and awareness campaigns. Methods: A cross sectional descriptive correlational study design was used to determine the level of health literacy among adult patients suffering from non-communicable diseases. A convenience sample of 120 adult patients ages 40 to 80 years diagnosed with chronic non-communicable diseases were recruited from four primary health care centers, consented to take the survey. Instrument: composed of two sections; socio-demographic information and All Aspects of Health Literacy Scale (AAHLS) with three subscales (functional, communication, and critical scale). Patients were recruited in coordination with the staff of the centers. After informed consent was secured; interview was conducted in a private room in the center, which lasted 5-10 minutes. Results: Significant association at bivariate analysis, was found between socio-demographic characteristics: employment, nationality, educational level, and income with functional and communication health literacy level, except for diabetes mellitus which was not significantly associated with communication The critical health literacy was significantly associated with only employment and educational level. Multivariate linear regression held significance only with educational level and income. Implications: significant for health care providers and policy makers to improve quality of patient care Conclusion: F