Health literacy in patients with epidermolysis bullosa in Iran
نویسندگان
1 Molecular Dermatology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran, Health Policy Research Center, Institute of Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
2 Molecular Dermatology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, IranDepartment of Dermatology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
3 Department of Medical-Surgical Nursing, Fatemeh (PBUH) School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
4 Health Policy Research Center, Institute of Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
5 Health Policy Research Center, Institute of Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran,
6 Health Policy Research Center, Institute of Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran, Administration of Laboratories Office, Vice Chancellor of Treatment, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
doi
چکیده
INTRODUCTION: Health literacy is a set of different skills, including reading, listening, analyzing,deciding, and applying these skills related to health status. Epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is a rarehereditary genetic disease which affects several aspects of the life of patients and their families. Theaim of this study was to assess the health literacy of patients with EB in Iran.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty‑three patients from Iran with EB, aged above 15 years-old,were enrolled in the study. Iranian Health Literacy Questionnaire, which measures health literacy infive domains including reading, access, perception, assessment, and decision-making skills, wasused for collecting the data. SPSS analytical software, version 22, was used for statistical analysis.RESULTS: In total, 19 (57.6%) patients were male and 14 (42.4%) female with an age range of15-41 years. Nineteen (57.6%) patients had inadequate health literacy in reading skills. One‑third ofpatients had enough health literacy in the realm of access, and two‑thirds were excellent in perception.Overall, there was no significant correlation between the level of health literacy with age (P = 0.92),sex (P = 0.55), race (P = 0.58), and educational level (P = 0.51) of the patients.CONCLUSION: The majority of the patients had inadequate health literacy in reading skills whilethese patients had acceptable health literacy in perception, assessment, and decision‑making skills.Improvement of health literacy of these patients should be a priority for health policy makers with theaim of increasing their quality of life and decreasing their personal and social problems.
