Relationship Between Health Literacy and the Socioeconomic Status Among Nulliparous Women referring to comprehensive health services centers in Bushehr City

Health literacy is an important element in the ability of a woman to engage in activities that promote her and her family and her children’s health. The pregnant women’s health literacy, can improve the quality of prenatal care, affect the outcome of pregnancy and in addition to the health of the baby. Understanding the most important factors affecting the health literacy of pregnant women is very important. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the relationship between health literacy level and socioeconomic status of pregnant women in Bushehr city. In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 100 primigravid women referred to the comprehensive health centers of Bushehr city were selected randomly. Health information literacy questionnaire (FCCHL) and socioeconomic status questionnaire (SES) were used to collect information. Data were analyzed by SPSS v.22 software. The mean age of participants was 26.96 ± 4.84. The highest level of health literacy was in the functional and the lowest score in the critical domain. Employed pregnant women had better communicational (p=0.002, z= -3.12) and critical health literacy (p=0.006, z=-2.938). There was a direct and significant correlation between socioeconomic status and critical health literacy (p = 0.04, r = 0.206). It seems in women with lower socioeconomic status due to lack of the job, low income and other affecting factors, the acquisition of skills related to health literacy, especially critical health literacy is denied. This could be a threat to their health. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to women with low socioeconomic status in order to improve their health literacy or provide health services and education appropriate to their level of health literacy.