Health Literacy and Associated Factors in Medical Students

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to determine the health literacy levels of medical students and to investigate the variables that may be associated with health literacy. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 702 students studying in the first three years of the Necmettin Erbakan University, Faculty of Medicine. After obtaining ethical and written permission, the data of the study were collected between January and February 2023. For the research, a data collection form consisting of 53 questions was prepared by the researchers. The Turkish Health Literacy Scale-32 (TSOY-32) was used in the last part of the data collection form. SPSS 28.0 package was used for data entry and analysis. Statistical significance was accepted at p<0.05. Result: Of the 702 students included in the study, 59.3% were female. The mean general index score of the participants on the TSOY-32 scale was 31.77 (26.04-36.45). According to the scores, 20.9% of the students had inadequate health literacy and 37.7% had problematic-limited health literacy. The TSOY-32 score of the first year students was significantly lower than that of the other two years. The TSOY-32 score was significantly higher than the other groups in those who reported that people with more income than their expenses most often use health care facilities for preventive services and in those who reported having heard about the concept of health literacy (p<0.05). Conclusion: As a result of this research, it was found that more than half of the students had insufficient or problematic limited level of health literacy.

Keywords

• Health literacy
• medical faculty
• medical
• student

Tıp Fakültesi Öğrencilerinde Sağlık Okuryazarlığı ve İlişkili Faktörler

Abstract

Amaç: Bu çalışmanın amacı tıp fakültesi öğrencilerinin sağlık okuryazarlığı düzeylerini belirlemek ve sağlık okuryazarlığı ile ilişkili olabilecek değişkenleri araştırmaktır. Gereç ve Yöntem: Kesitsel tipte olan bu çalışma, Necmettin Erbakan Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi’nin ilk üç yılında öğrenim gören 702 öğrenci üzerinde gerçekleştirildi. Etik ve yazılı izin alındıktan sonra çalışmanın verileri Ocak-Şubat 2023 tarihleri arasında toplandı. Araştırma için araştırmacılar tarafından 53 sorudan oluşan bir veri toplama formu hazırlandı. Veri toplama formunun son bölümünde Türkiye Sağlık Okuryazarlığı Ölçeği-32 (TSOY-32) kullanıldı. Veri girişi ve analizinde SPSS 28.0 paketi kullanıldı. İstatistiksel anlamlılık p<0,05 olarak kabul edildi. Bulgular: Araştırmaya dahil edilen 702 öğrencinin %59,3’ü kız idi. Katılımcıların TSOY-32 ölçeğindeki genel indeks puanı ortalaması 31,77 (26,04-36,45) olarak belirlendi. Puanlara göre öğrencilerin %20,9’unun yetersiz sağlık okuryazarlığına sahip olduğu, %37,7’sinin ise problemli-sınırlı sağlık okuryazarlığına sahip olduğu görüldü. Birinci sınıf öğrencilerinin TSOY-32 puanı diğer iki yıla göre anlamlı derecede düşüktü. Geliri giderinden fazla olan kişilerde, koruyucu hizmetler için en çok sağlık kurumlarını kullandığını belirtenlerde ve sağlık okuryazarlığı kavramını duyduğunu belirtenlerde TSOY-32 puanı diğer gruplara göre anlamlı derecede yüksekti (p<0,05). Sonuç: Bu araştırma sonucunda öğrencilerin yarıdan fazlasının sağlık okuryazarlığının yetersiz veya sorunlu sınırlı düzeyde olduğu tespit edilmiştir.

Keywords

• Sağlık okuryazarlığı
• tıp fakültesi
• tıp
• öğrenci

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