The Contribution and Importance of Health Literacy in the Face of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Öz

Nowadays, the development of health literacy is becoming crucial to prepare individuals and communities for emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic that requires rapid containment and urgent actions. As the outbreak spreads, people want to know how to protect themselves and their families while they preparing for uncertainty. Many studies have emphasized the importance of good health literacy for survival in these difficult and uncertain times. Those with good health literacy are generally able to manage their health more effectively than those who are not. The purpose of this review is to examine the contribution and importance of health literacy, which is thought to affect health behaviors of individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• COVID-19
• health
• health literacy
• outbreak

COVID-19 Salgını Karşısında Sağlık Okuryazarlığının Katkısı ve Önemi

Öz

Günümüzde sağlık okuryazarlığının ilerlemesi, hızlı önleme ve acil eylemleri gerekli kılan COVID-19 salgını gibi acil durumlara bireylerin ve toplumların hazırlanmasını sağlamak için çok önemli hale gelmektedir. Salgın yayıldıkça, insanlar belirsizliğe hazırlanırken kendilerini ve ailelerini nasıl koruyacaklarını bilmek istemektedir. Yapılan birçok araştırma, bu zor ve belirsiz zamanlarda iyi sağlık okuryazarlığının hayatta kalmak için önemine dikkat çekmektedir. Sağlık okuryazarlığı düzeyi iyi olanlar genellikle sağlıklarını iyi olmayanlardan daha etkili bir şekilde yönetebilmektedir. Bu derlemenin amacı, COVID-19 salgını sırasında bireylerin sağlık davranışlarını etkilediği düşünülen sağlık okuryazarlığının katkısı ve önemini incelemektir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• COVID-19
• sağlık
• sağlık okuryazarlığı
• salgın

Kaynakça

1. Norman CD, Skinner HA. eHealth literacy: essential skills for consumer health in a networked world. J Med Internet Res. 2006;8(2):e9.
2. Košir U, Sørensen K. COVID-19: the key to flattening the curve is health literacy. Perspect Public Health. 2020;1757913920936717.
3. Parker R, Ratzan SC. Health literacy: A second decade of distinction for Americans. J Health Commun. 2010;15(suppl 2):20-33.
4. Cangussú LR, Barros IRPD, Botelho Filho CADL, Sampaio Filho JDR, Lopes MR. COVID-19 and health literacy: the yell of a silent epidemic amidst the pandemic. Rev Assoc Med Bras. 2020;66(suppl 2):31-3.
5. Abdel-Latif MMM. The enigma of health literacy and COVID-19 pandemic. Public Health. 2020;185:95-6.
6. Kaya SP, Kaplan S. Hemşirelik öğrencilerinde COVID-19 pandemisi farkındalıklarının ve sağlık davranışlarının sağlık okuryazarlığı ile ilişkisinin değerlendirilmesi. HEAD. 2020;17(4):304-11.
7. Okan O, Bollweg TM, Berens EM, Hurrelmann K, Bauer U, Schaeffer D. Coronavirus-related health literacy: A cross-sectional study in adults during the COVID-19 infodemic in Germany. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(15):5503.
8. Nguyen HT, Do BN, Pham KM, Kim GB, Dam HT, Nguyen TT, et al. Fear of COVID-19 scale—associations of its scores with health literacy and health-related behaviors among medical students. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(11):4164.

9. Do BN, Nguyen PA, Pham KM, Nguyen HC, Nguyen MH, Tran CQ, et al. Determinants of health literacy and its associations with health-related behaviors, depression among the older people with and without suspected COVID-19 symptoms: A multi-institutional study. Front Public Health. 2020;8:581746.
10. Spring H. Health literacy and COVID‐19. Health Info Libr J. 2020; 37: 171-2.
11. Özkan S, Tüzün H, Dikmen AU, İlhan MN. Salgınlarda toplum davranışı ve sağlık okuryazarlığı. J Biotechinol & Strategic Health Res. 2020;4:105-10.
12. Pan SL, Cui M, Qian J. Information resource orchestration during the COVID-19 pandemic: A study of community lockdowns in China. Int J Inf Manage. 2020;54:102143.
13. T.C. Sağlık Bakanlığı. COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2 Enfeksiyonu) Genel Bilgiler, Epidemiyoloji ve Tanı. Ankara; 2020. Available from: https:// covid19.saglik.gov.tr/Eklenti/39551/0/covid-19rehberigenelbilgilerepide miyolojivetanipdf.pdf
14. who.int [Internet]. Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19); [cited 2021 April 4]. Available from: https://www.who.int/health-topics/ coronavirus#tab=tab_1.
15. Abel T, McQueen D. Critical health literacy in pandemics: the special case of COVID-19. Health Promot Int. 2021;36(5):1473-81.
16. Tran BX, Dang AK, Thai PK, Le HT, Le XTT, Do TTT, et al. Coverage of health information by different sources in communities: implication for COVID-19 epidemic response. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(10):3577.
17. Hashemi-Shahri SM, Khammarnia M, Ansari-Moghaddam A, Setoodehzadeh F, Okati-Aliabad H, Peyvand M. Sources of news as a necessity for improving community health literacy about COVID-19. Med J Islam Repub Iran. 2020;34:63.
18. Zarcadoolas C, Pleasant A, Greer DS. Understanding health literacy: an expanded model. Health Promot Int. 2005;20(2):195-203.
19. Sørensen K, Pelikan JM, Röthlin F, Ganahl K, Slonska Z, Doyle G, et al. Health literacy in Europe: comparative results of the European health literacy survey (HLS-EU). Eur J Public Health. 2015;25(6):1053-8.
20. Kutner M, Greenburg E, Jin Y, Paulsen C. The health literacy of America's adults: Results from the 2003 national assessment of adult literacy (NCES 2006-483). Washington, DC; 2006. Available from: https:// nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/2006483.pdf
21. T.C. Sağlık Bakanlığı Sağlığın Geliştirilmesi Genel Müdürlüğü. Türkiye Sağlık Okuryazarlığı Düzeyi ve İlişkili Faktörleri Araştırması. Ankara; 2018. Available from: https://sggm.saglik.gov.tr/Eklenti/39699/0/soya-rapor-1pdf.pdf
22. Tüzün H, Demirköse H, Özkan S, Dikmen AU, İlhan MN. COVID-19 pandemisi ve risk iletişimi. Gazi Sağlık Bilimleri Dergisi. 2020;Özel Sayı:1- 8.
23. Mayer G, Villaire M. Health literacy: An opportunity for nurses to lead by example. Nursing Outlook. 2011;59(2):59-60.
24. Paakkari L, Okan O. COVID-19: health literacy is an underestimated problem. The Lancet Public Health. 2020;5(5):e249-e250.
25. Akbal E, Gökler ME. COVID-19 salgını sürecinde eksikliği ortaya çıkan bir gerçek: sağlık okuryazarlığı. ESTÜDAM Halk Sağlığı Dergisi. 2020;5(COVID-19 Özel Sayısı):148-55.
26. Sentell T, Vamos S, Okan O. Interdisciplinary perspectives on health literacy research around the world: more important than ever in a time of COVID-19. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(9):3010.
27. oecd.org [Internet]. OECD Policy Responses to Coronavirus (COVID-19). What is the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on immigrants and their children?; 2020. [cited 2022 February 25]. Available from: https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/what-is-the-impact-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-on-immigrants-and-their-children-e7cbb7de/
28. Ashrafi-Rizi H, Kazempour Z. Information diet in Covid-19 crisis; a commentary. Arch Acad Emerg Med. 2020;8(1):e30.
29. Baur C. Calling the nation to act: Implementing the national action plan to improve health literacy. Nurs Outlook. 2011;59(2):63-9.