Evaluation of Health Literacy in Academics at a University of Turkey

Background and Objective: The level of health literacy of individuals contributes to their ability to protect and improve health and to exhibit positive health behaviours. The concept of health literacy entails that individual should have basic health knowledge. The study was conducted to determine the level of health literacy in academics at Harran University. Materials and Methods: The participants of this descriptive study were 115 academics. The Turkish Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire-32 and the introductory information form were used to collect data. Results: Of the participants, 67.0% were male, 75.7% were married, and 73.0% were in the faculty. The mean health literacy score of the participants is 34.51. There was no statistically significant difference between the participants' gender, marital status, title, workplace, working time and the mean total index score (p>0.05). The lowest mean scores in the health care sub-dimension were related to the process of appraising information (mean: 30.08), whereas the lowest scores in the disease prevention and health promotion sub-dimension were related to the process of applying information (mean: 30.08). Conclusion: It was found that the health literacy of the participants was not at the desired level. In order to increase the health literacy levels of the academics, who are seen as role models in society, it can be recommended to conduct interventional efforts with broader samples.