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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
ABSTRACT
Background: Health literacy has been defined by the World Health Organization (1998) as the "set of cognitive and social skills which determines the ability of people to gain access to, understand and use information in ways which promote and maintain good health."
Objectives: To determine the Health Literacy among haemodialysis patients; to analyze the influence of socio-demographic variables and of family in patients’ Health Literacy; to establish a relationship between the duration of the treatment received and haemodialysis patients’ Health Literacy. Methods: Quantitative, non-experimental, descriptive, correlational and cross-sectional study based on the information gathered from 68 patients suffering from chronic renal failure who were undergoing haemodialysis at the Nephrology Service at the Tondela/ Viseu Hospital Centre, EPE, and at the Beirodial Clinic - Medical Centre and Dialysis, in Mangualde and who were
between 21 and 88 years old, which gives an average age of 66.74 (± 14.927 Sd.). The data collection instrument was a questionnaire that included socio-demographic questions and others about the patients’ clinical profile, the Family Apgar Scale (Smilkstein, 1978) and the European health literacy Survey (HLS- EU-Q) validated for Portuguese participants (Nunes & Sorensen, 2013). Results: Most patients seem to exhibit inadequate health literacy (61.8%). The independent variables that might interfere with health literacy were: the patients’ age- middle-aged patients are more likely to exhibit better health literacy (X2=10,340; p=0.006); their educational qualifications- higher literacy levels were evident among patients with higher academic
qualifications (p<0.05 in all dimensions); the family’s monthly income- patients with higher monthly income tend to exhibit better health literacy (p<0.05 in all dimensions) with a marginal difference regarding health care (X2=5.869, p=0:53); family relationships - patients who live in a functional family manifest better literacy (prevention of disease p=0.010; total literacy in health p=0.034); the amount of time required for treatment- where we have to include patients with shorter treatment time (health promotion X2=6.077; p=0.048).
Conclusion: The results show a prevalence of haemodialysis patients with inadequate literacy levels. This situation requires the development of action plans that will contribute to improve the levels of health literacy.
Description
This paper was presented at Economic and Social Development Conference (Zagreb, Croatia, 9-10 December 2016)
Keywords
Dialysis patient Health Literacy
Citation
Martins, C., Campos, S., Duarte, J., Martins, R., Silva, D., & Chaves, C. (2016). Health literacy among dialysis patients. Economic and Social Development, 270-275. http://www.esd-conference.com/index.php?page=past-conferences
Publisher
Varazdin Development and Entrepreneurship Agency