Evaluation of parents' health literacy in chronic neurological diseases of childhood

Abstract

Introduction: Health literacy is defined as the degree to which individuals can make appropriate health decisions, access health services, and understand and apply the treatment given. The aim of this study is to evaluate the health literacy level of the parents of patients diagnosed with one of the chronic neurological diseases of childhood.Materials and Methods: The study was conducted by applying a questionnaire containing the Turkish Health Literacy Scale-32 (TSOY-32) to the parents of pediatric patients followed up for chronic neurological diseases.Results: Three hundred thirty eight people (53.3% female, 46.7% male) participated in the study. According to the participants' health literacy level according to the TSOY-32 scale; 15.4% (n=52) were inadequate, 24.6% (n=83) problematic/limited, 34% (n=115) adequate, 26% (n=88) excellent. The health literacy level of 40.2% of the parents of the patients followed up with epilepsy, 58.8% of the parents of the patients followed up with neuromuscular disease and 52.6% of the parents followed up with neurodegenerative diseases was found to be insufficient or problematic-limited.Conclusion: 40% of parents of children with chronic neurological diseases do not have sufficient health literacy. This rate increases in cases where the incidence of chronic neurological disease is low. It would be appropriate to organize training programs to increase social awareness and health literacy in chronic neurological diseases.