Investigating the Association between Health Literacy and Fear of COVID-19 among Caregivers of the Elderly in Tehran, Iran

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Nursing, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran

2 Health Research Center, Life Style Institute, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences Tehran, Iran

3 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Health, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Caregivers' health literacy is an influential factor in the caregivers’ efficiency to meet the physiological and psychological needs of the elderly. The prolongation of the COVID-19 pandemic and the problems of the elderly can be a reason for fear of infection in their caregivers. This study aimed to investigate the fear of COVID-19 in caregivers and its relationship with their health literacy.

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 400 caregivers of the elderly, living in Tehran, Iran during the Summer of 2021. The tools consisted of health literacy, fear of COVID-19, awareness, attitude, and performance were collected through questionnaires. The data was gathered by using an online questionnaire. Data analysis was performed by using SPSS ver.23 with Pearson correlation and regression, and independent t-test. 23. 

Results: For each increased unit of the health literacy score, the fear of COVID-19 score decreased by 0.185 units (P =0.025). The mean score of health literacy was 75.89 ±14.51 in caregivers of the elderly. The mean score of fear of COVID-19 was 19.42 ±5.02 in caregivers of the elderly. For each increased unit of the health literacy score, the awareness score increases by 0.311 units, the attitude score increases by 0.638 units, and the performance score also increase by 0.214 units. 

Conclusions: As health literacy increases, the fear of COVID-19 decreases. In addition, most health caregivers have adequate levels of health literacy. It is suggested to set educational policies to increase the health literacy of the caregivers whose health literacy level is not desirable.

Keywords

Acknowledgements: We thank all the elderlies and their caregivers for their participation in this study. This article was edited by Kosar Jafari (medical student). 

Conflict of interests: All authors declare that there is no conflict of interest in this study.

Ethical Consideration: This study was confirmed by the ethical committee of Qazvin’s University of Medical Sciences [IR.QUMS.REC.1400.022]. The written informed consent was obtained from all participationand study protocols including interventions, procedures and methods was according to the principles of Helsinki declaration.

 

Funding statement: This study was founded by the Department of Nursing, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences.

 

Authors' contributions: Azam Navaei Kolvanagh was the main researcher, she designed the study, collected the data, performed the analysis and wrote the first draft. Kazaem Hosseinzadeh supervised the study. Fatemeh Rahmati  was an advisor and Mehdi Raei, were  the statistical advisor. KH, FR and MR designed the study, helped with the data analysis and edited the article. All authors read and approved the final revision of the manuscript.

 

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