Investigating the Association between Health Literacy and Fear of COVID-19 among Caregivers of the Elderly in Tehran, Iran

Background and Objectives: ti ves: Caregivers' health literacy is an influential ti al factor in the caregivers' efficiency ffi ciency to meet the physiological and psychological needs of the elderly. The prolongation ti on of the COVID-19 pandemic and the problems of the elderly can be a reason for fear of infection ti on in their caregivers. This study aimed to investigate ti gate the fear of COVID-19 in caregivers and its relationship ti onship with their health literacy. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional ti onal study was performed on 400 caregivers of the elderly, living in Tehran, Iran during the Summer of 2021. The tools consisted of health literacy, fear of COVID-19, awareness, attitude, tti tude, and performance were collected through questionnaires. ti onnaires. The data was gathered by using an online questionnaire. ti onnaire. Data analysis was performed by using SPSS ver.23 with Pearson correlation ti on and regression, and independent t-test. 23. Results: For each increased unit of the health literacy score, the fear of COVID-19 score decreased by 0.185 units (P =0.025). The mean score of health literacy was 75.89 +/- 14.51 in caregivers of the elderly. The mean score of fear of COVID-19 was 19.42 +/- 5.02 in caregivers of the elderly. For each increased unit of the health literacy score, the awareness score increases by 0.311 units, the attitude tti tude score increases by 0.638 units, and the performance score also increase by 0.214 units. Conclusions: As health literacy increases, the fear of COVID-19 decreases. In addition, ti on, most health caregivers have adequate levels of health literacy. It is suggested to set educational ti onal policies to increase the health literacy of the caregivers whose health literacy level is not desirable.