The Effect of Disasters on Applications to Health Institutions and Their Relationship With Health Literacy Level
Öz
Aim: This study aimed to investigate the impact of disasters on individuals’ healthcare utilization and its association with health literacy (HL) levels.
Methods: A total of 209 patients aged 18 years and older, who presented to the emergency clinic, were fully conscious, and were randomly selected, were included in the study. A descriptive survey (19 questions) and the Adult Health Literacy Scale (23 questions) were administered face to face to the participants. The suitability of the data for normal distribution was evaluated with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The Mann-Whitney U test was applied to groups of two, and the Kruskal-Wallis test was applied to groups of three or more. Cases where the p-value was below 0.05 were considered statistically significant.
Results: When the pre-disaster and disaster periods are compared, the rate of application to primary health care institutions has doubled. Those who do not have a chronic disease, who are ≤40 years old, and who consider themselves adequate to protect themselves from infectious diseases had high HL levels. Additionally, those with low educational and economic status also had low HL levels. 84 of the participants (40.2%) missed their follow-ups at health centers during the disaster period.
Conclusions: It shows that large-scale disasters cause significant changes in individuals’ preferences for applying to health services and that the level of health literacy is an effective factor in these preferences. Considering that individuals with low health literacy levels may not benefit sufficiently from health services during disaster periods, it is necessary to increase health education regarding disasters and increase health literacy in society.
Anahtar Kelimeler
Disasters, health literacy, primary health care, pandemic, earthquake
Kaynakça
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