Health Literacy on Neonatal Development Promotion of Neonatal Intensive Care Nurses at three Provinces in Northeast of Thailand

Abstract

This descriptive research aimed to study health literacy of promoting neonatal development of professional nurses, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at hospitals in three provinces the Northeast Thailand. The samples were 99 registered nurses and were purposively selected. The research tool consisted of 1)  demographic  data,  and  2)  general  health literacy  to promote the development of newborn   questionnaire  developed  by  the  researchers.  The health  literacy  questionnaire  which  was  a  68  items    Likert  scale  was  test  for  the  Index  of  item  objective  congruence  (IOC)  by  3  experts.  The IOC was reported at 1.  Using Cronbach^’s alpha coefficient, the reliability was at 0.99.   Data were collected via online. Data then were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as average, percentage.

            The results  illustrated  that  registered nurses had the highest  health  literacy  mean scores  of  the  access to health information and neonatal  developmental promotion health services. (Mean = 28.2, S.D. = 7.17).  Their lowest health literacy mean scores was  on  communication  of  neonatal developmental promotion (Mean = 26.6, SD = 7.42).  The findings reflected problems that may affect the development of newborns with conditions which delayed development. Therefore, nurses are important people who need to develop health literacy in caring for newborns who are critically ill and to promote proper development.