Investigation of health literacy and affecting factors of nursing students

Health literacy (HL) is a concept that concerns individuals, as well as health systems and health professionals. This study was conducted to determine health literacy and affecting factors of nursing students. A descriptive-cross sectional design was used. First and fourth year nursing students were included in the study (n = 303). A questionnaire and the Adult Health Literacy Scale were used for collection of the data. Most (84.8%) of the students were female and 60.4% were studying in their first year. The mean Adult Health Literacy Scale score of the student nurses was 15.9 +/- 3.2. The fourth year nursing students who have health insurance, have chronic disease, use drugs regularly, and have difficulties in reading had higher mean Adult Health Literacy Scale scores (p < 0.05). Although this study indicates that the HL level of the nursing students was found as adequate, it is thought that the higher HL level acquired in the undergraduate education the more competent nursing work-force. The HL concept should be integrated into the nursing curriculum to improve the HL levels of the nursing students. Nurse educators should emphasize the importance of health literacy and patient empowerment in the curriculum.