The Relationship between Health Literacy and Health-Promoting Behaviors in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Evidence from a Military Hospital-Based Study in Iran

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Health Management Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

2 Faculty of Medicine, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

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

4 Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Background and Objective: Diabetes Mellitus (DM) ranks as one of the most common non-contagious diseases and its importance has been widely acknowledged. Nevertheless, health literacy and lifestyle factors have a big impact on how well people control and manage this condition. The current relationship between health-promoting behaviors and health literacy among DM patients of the Military hospital is discussed in this article.

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional investigation encompassed a sample of 281 type 2 DM patients attending the endocrinology clinic at Baqiyatallah Hospital. Data collection was achieved through the employment of a checklist comprising 12 demographic items, a 33-item Health Literacy Instrument for Adults (HELIA) questionnaire, and a 51-item Walker's Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP II) questionnaire. Data analysis was completed by implementing Pearson’s correlation coefficient, independent t-tests, analysis of variance, and hierarchical linear regression, which was done by using SPSS ver. 22.

Results: The mean age of the participants was calculated to be 45.2 ± 17.2 years. The participents’ charachteristics mostly consisted of being men (66.9%), married (63.7%), and having a diploma (45.9%). In this study, a moderate positive correlation was found between health literacy and health-promoting behaviors (r=0.405) (p=0.000). Furthermore, people ages 45 and above and those with a non-medical job had the highest scores on health-promoting behaviors, and non-smokers had a higher score on health literacy. Liner Regression analysis demonstrated that reading, access, decision-making, and behavioral intention significantly predicted health-promoting behaviors (R²=0.295, p<0.000),with decision-making showing the strongest effect (β=0.242, p=0.002).

Conclusion: The findings of the current study verify that there is a relationship between health literacy and lifestyle, and that edjucational programs focus more on improving specific domains like accessing, reading and decision-making, as identified in the regression for DM patients.

Keywords

Acknowledgments: We would like to thank the “Clinical Research Development Unit of Baqiyatallah Hospital” for their generous contribution to this study. We would also like to thank Kosar Jafari for editing this article.


Availability of data and materials: The materials and data supporting this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.


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


Consent for publication: Not applicable.


Ethical approval and consent to participate: The study was conducted in accordance with the ethical principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki. Consent forms were filled out prior to participation in the study, and the treatment of those who did not participate was not altered. The researcher also explained this study's steps and process to all of the participants and that their anonymity and data confidentiality will be maintained throughout the study. Additionally, approval from the university's ethics committee, designated under the code of ethics IR BMSU.REC.1402.020, was obtained.


Funding: None.


Authors’ contribution: F. Rahmati and L. Khedmat construct and supervised this study. A. Faeghi implemented the project and collected the data. M. Raei provided statistical consultation and analysis. E. Naimi served as the clinical advisor. F. Rahmati and L. Khedmat  drafted and revised the manuscript. All authors reviewed and approved the final version of the 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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Available Online from 21 October 2025

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