Investigating the Status of Health Literacy and Its Predictive Factors in Women with Breast Cancer Referring to Teaching Hospitals of Javad Al-Aemeh University and Clinic in Kerman, 2021

Health literacy is among the most critical factors affecting breast cancer progression in patients. This study was designed and implemented with the aim of determining the level of health literacy and its predictors in women with breast cancer referring to Javad Al-Aemeh teaching hospitals and clinic in Kerman in 2021.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on women with breast cancer referred to Javad Al-Aemeh teaching hospitals and clinic in Kerman city in 2021. To collect data, a self-administered questionnaire including demographic characteristics of patients, and the valid and reliable Persian version of the health literacy of Iranian women with breast cancer (Health Literacy of Breast Cancer for Adults (HELBA)) was used. Data were analyzed through SPSS version 20.

In this study, nearly 15.3% of participants had low health literacy. According to the univariate logistic regression model, the health literacy level of the study participants had a significant relationship with all the demographic variables in the study except the age of the spouse (P<0.05). In the multivariate logistic regression model, only the spouse's education level had a significant relationship with the health literacy of the participants in the study.
The odds of a sufficient health literacy in people with a spouse having a high school diploma was 4.33 times, and in people with a spouse having a university degree was 5.87 times more than the participants with a spouse having an education below high school diploma.

The results of this study indicated that the level of health literacy in many women with breast cancer is sufficient. However, educational planning is needed to improve the level of literacy in this group, with especial emphasis on the health literacy of the spouses.