Association between Health Literacy and Self-care of Type 2 Diabetic Patients

Abstract

Heath literacy plays a significant role in self-care. This cross-sectional descriptive study aimed to investigate health literacy and examine association between health literacy and self-care among patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Total 300 of T2DM patients at the diabetes clinic of Sawattee health promotion hospital, Khon Kaen Province, were selected by simple random sampling. Characteristics of the subjects, health literacy and self-care behaviors were obtained by using a structured questionnaire. Multiple regression analysis was analyzed the association between health literacy score and self-care score by adjusting sex, age, education level, care taker, duration being diabetes.
Results revealed that 77.0 % of the subjects were female with average age 62.9±9.8 years. Average duration diagnosed as diabetes was 11 ± 8.0 years. About half of the subjects were classified in moderate level of health literacy scores. Media literacy of the subjects was in moderate and low level for 47.0% and 39.7%. Diabetes communication among the subjects was in moderate level for 64.3%. Self-care of the subjects was in moderate level for 66.7%. Majority (92.3%) of them had good self-care in medication using, whereas food consumption practice was in moderate level for 72.7% and level of exercise was inadequate for 66.7%. Multiple regression analysis showed that health literacy was positively related to self-care (p<0.001). In conclusion, T2DM patients had limited health literacy and health literacy was associated with self-care of them. Public health personnel should provide services for improving health literacy of the patients which can increase the likelihood of performing self-care.