Health Literacy and Rational Drug Use in Turkey: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches

Health literacy (HL) helps individuals to promote  their a quality life and affecting rational drug use (RDU). This study aimed to quantitatively and qualitatively determine the level of health literacy and rational drug use among indivudals  (age> 18 years) who lived in the central districts of Konya, Turkey.  The study is the mixed research design. The sample consists of 465 people. The Health Literacy Scale and the Rational Drug Use Scale were used to conduct quantitative study. The unstructured interview method was also used to conduct the qualitative design. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences program (SPSS) and statistical tests (reliability, percentage, descriptive statistics, t-test, and ANOVA) were used to analysis data.  The Cronbach Alpha values of the HL scale and RDU scale were 0.93 and 0.82, respectively. The average level of the HL was 98.75±12.77, and the RDU was 36.94±4.47. There was a significant difference between the groups according to the results of the analysis made between the participants' gender, marital status, central districts of residence, educational status, total HL level, and RDU (p<0.05). While there was a significant difference (p<0.05) in the level of HL according to the age groups of the participants, there was no difference in RDU (p>0.05).  individuals were over the age of 18 residing in the central districts of Konya province had sufficient levels of HL and RDU.