Examining the Health Literacy Levels of Health Sciences Faculty Students

This study aims to examine the health literacy levels of health sciences faculty students. This descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out between April 07 and June 1, 2017, with the students of Karabuk University Health Sciences Faculty, who accepted to participate in the study (n=300). The research data was collected using a survey form questioning participants' socio-demographic characteristics, and the "Turkish Health Literacy Scale 32 (THLS-32)". The chi-square, Mann Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis H tests were used for statistical evaluation. The Bonferroni correction was used in the post hoc evaluation of the differences found as a result of the Kruskal Wallis H test. The mean age of the participant students was 20,89 +/- 1,74 years. Of the 85,3% (n=256) of them were female and 14,7% (n=44) were male. In addition 33,3% (n=100), 26,3% (n=79), 22,3% (n=67) and 18% (n=54) of the students were studying in nursing, midwifery, child development, and physiotherapy & rehabilitation faculties. The 55,7% of the students obtained a score corresponding to an " adequate or excellent health literacy" level on the whole scale, 62% in subscale of "treatment and service", and 55% in subscale of " protecting from diseases and improving health". It was determined that the students had the highest and lowest mean scores on the subscales of "using/applying health-related information" and " evaluating health-related information", respectively. Moreover, it was found that the students in midwifery and physiotherapy & rehabilitation faculties obtained the highest (36,24 +/- 6,16) and lowest (31,26 +/- 6,32) total scores on the THLS-32 scale, respectively (p < 0.001). The study results suggest that students studying in health education do not have the desired level of health literacy. Health professionals who will serve as health educators and counsellors in their professional fields should have good levels of health literacy for fulfilling their roles in this regard. Therefore, it is recommended to add the subject of health literacy to pre-graduation health curriculum and course schedule in universities.