The Correlation of Health Literacy with Quality of Life in Asthmatic Patients

Health literacy is defined as the capacity of an individual to acquire, interpret, and comprehend basic information and health services, which largely influences health-related decision-making. Asthma is a prevalent chronic disease, which adversely affects the quality of life the patients. The present study aimed to investigate the correlation of health literacy with the quality of life of the asthmatic patients referring to the clinics affiliated to Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences in Yazd, Iran in 2018.

This descriptive-correlational study was conducted on 300 patients with asthma, who were selected via simple random sampling. Data were collected using the questionnaires of demographic characteristics, quality of life, and health literacy, which completed in a self-report manner. Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 16 using descriptive and inferential statistics.

The majority of the patients were female (52.3%) and married (87.3%), with the mean age of 43.9±11.08 years. The majority of the patients (73.3%) used the option of asking physicians and healthcare providers to receive the necessary information regarding their disease. The mean score of health literacy was 100.78±28.55, and the highest and lowest scores belonged to the components of evaluation (68.5) and accessibility (55.36), respectively. In addition, the health literacy of the majority of the subjects (45%) was inadequate. The mean score of the quality of life was 46.91±5.32, with the highest and lowest mean scores observed in the concerns about health (17.41±2.88) and physical dimensions (10.66±2.88), respectively. However, no significant correlations were observed between the health literacy and its components and various dimensions of the quality of life (P>0.05).

According to the results, the level of health literacy and quality of life of the asthmatic patients were not favorable, and no significant correlations were observed between health literacy and its components with the dimensions of the quality of life. Therefore, studies are required to investigate the mediating factors that may affect these variables. Furthermore, the development of comprehensive programs, simple and understandable educational materials, and effective psychological interventions could enhance the health literacy skills and quality of life of asthmatic patients.