Understanding of Turkish pharmacists health literacy knowledge, attitudes, and behavior

Year 2020, Volume: 50 Issue: 1, 64 - 70, 01.04.2020

Hilal İlbars Seçil Özkan

Abstract

Background and Aims: Health literacy is a set of cognitive-social skills and motivation to access, understand, and utilize information to protect and improve the health of individuals. Pharmacists, as public health advisors, need to play an active and effective role in preventing the negative consequences of inadequate health literacy. In this study, we determined the knowledge, attitudes, behaviours, and educational needs related to pharmacists’ health literacy. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in cities across Turkey. According to the ‘2016 Turkish Pharmacists Association Database’, in 2015 and 2016, there were 25,453 and 24,928 private pharmacists, respectively. To calculate the sample size, we used a population of 24,928, a 50% expected prevalence (unknown frequency), a 5% deviation value, a 95% confidence interval, and a 1.0 design effect. The necessary sample size was determined to be 379. Using a random number table, we recruited 398 participants for this study. Results: Our results revealed that the pharmacists who participated in this study stated high awareness of health literacy. Conclusion: In healthcare facilities, pharmacists should play an active role in promoting and delivering health literacy.

Keywords

Pharmacist, health literacy, knowledge, attitude, behaviour

References

• Kickbusch, I., & Nutbeam, D. (1998). Health promotion glossary. Geneva: World Health Organization.
• Kickbusch, I., Pelikan, J. M., Apfel, F., & Tsouros, A. D. (2013). The European Health Literacy Survey (HLS-EU). Geneva: World Health Organization.
• Okyay, P., & Abacıgil F, (2016). Türkiye Sağlık Okuryazarlığı Ölçekleri güvenirlik ve geçerlilik çalışması [Turkey Health Literacy Scale reliability and validity study]. Ankara, Turkey: Anıl Reklam Matbaa.
• Tanrıöver, M. D., Yıldırım, H. H., Ready, N. D., Çakır., B., & Akalın, E. (2014). Türkiye sağlık okuryazarlığı araştırması [Turkish Health Literacy Research]. Ankara, Turkey: Sağlık-Sen. T.C. Sağlık Bakanlığı. (2012). Stratejik plan 2013–2017 [Strategic Plan 2013–2017]. Ankara, Turkey: Author.
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2010). National action plan to improve health literacy. Washington, DC: Author.