Health Literacy and Health Perception of Pregnant Women in the Southeast Region of Türkiye: A Cross-Sectional Study

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Associate Professor, Mardin Artuklu University, Faculty of Health Science, Department of Nursing, Mardin.

2 Master's student, Mardin Artuklu University, Faculty of Health Science, Department of Nursing, Mardin.

3 Assistant Professor, Gaziantep University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Midwifery, Gaziantep.

Abstract

Background and Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between health literacy level and health perception in third-trimester pregnant women and to determine the effect of health literacy on health perception.

Material and Methods: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted in 2024 at Mardin Training and Research Hospital in Türkiye. Without selecting a sample, 201 third-trimester pregnant women who applied to obstetrics and gynecology units during the specified period were included in the study. The Personal Information Form, European Health Literacy Scale, and Health Perception Scale were used as data collection tools. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews and analyzed using nonparametric tests. İncluding the Mann–Whitney U test and Kruskal–Wallis test.

Results: 29.3% of the participants had inadequate, 46.2% had problematic, 23.3% had adequate, and only 0.9% had excellent health literacy. There was a significant correlation between health literacy and variables such as education level(p < 0.001), economic status(p = 0.002), housing type (p = 0.018), and reading frequency (p = 0.005). Health perception was generally found to be at a good level and showed significant associations with age at marriage (p = 0.014), economic status(p = 0.007), smoking (p = 0.036), and regular medication use(p = 0.011). However, no statistically significant correlation was found between health literacy and health perception(p = 0.412).

Conclusion: The study revealed that most pregnant women had inadequate or problematic health literacy levels, whereas their health perceptions were generally positive. Although both variables were influenced by various demographic and behavioural factors, no statistically significant relationship was found between health literacy and health perception. Reveals the importance of interventions to increase health literacy, especially in pregnant women.

Keywords

Acknowledgments: We express our profound appreciation to all the respondents involved in this study.


Availability of data and materials: The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.


Conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.


Consent for publication: Not applicable.


Ethics approval and consent to participate: Before the study, the approval of Artuklu University Non-Interventional Ethics Committee dated 13.02.2024 and numbered 2024/2-34 was obtained. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants, and the study was conducted in full compliance with the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Participants were informed about the study's aim, advantages, risks, and procedures before the intervention. Participants were provided with a digital information sheet that contained written and verbal explanations of the study's contents. The researcher maintained the privacy of each participant's identity while safely storing the data for the necessary time.


Funding: This study was not financially supported by any person, institution, or organization.


Authors' contribution: SÇ was responsible for the study design. SE and EV are supervising the work. SÇ, AG, and EV data, statistical analysis, and provide data. SÇ wrote the first draft of the article. All authors have reviewed and agreed on the final version Manuscript.

 

Open Access Policy: This is an open-access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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