Investigating Adult Health Literacy in Tuyserkan City

Health literacy is the capacity of individuals to obtain, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make healthy decisions. Therefore, this study was designed to determine health literacy of adults Tuyserkan district. This cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study was performed on 285 subjects aged 20-60 years attending Tuyserkan health centers through convenience sampling method in 2014. Iranian health literacy questionnaire was used to collect data. Data was analyzed using Stata-11 by Independent T-test and one way ANOVA. Most participants aged 20 to 30 years (52.3%) and 53.7 % were males. Most participants had postgraduate diploma level (55.8 %) and were students (31.9 %). Participants had a weak level to access information (42.1%), weak level to perceive data (54.4%), moderate in judgment and assessment (64.9%) and moderate in use of information (88.8%). Overall, there was a poor health literacy in adults. This indicates the need for more attention to health education and health promotion programs. It seems necessary to design and implement comprehensive plans using media and simple training methods for adults with a low level of health literacy.