What is Health Literacy? How to measure it? Why is it important?

Sağlık okuryazarlığı(SOY); bir hastaya tıbbi bir bilgi vermek istendiğinde bireyin bu bilgiyi anlayıp, yorumlaması ve buna uygun davranış göstermesi olarak tanımlanabilir. SOY düzeyinin sınırlı olması tanı ve tedavileri olumsuz etkilemekte, gereksiz hospitalizasyonlara ve hospitalizasyon süresinin uzamasına neden olmaktadır. Bunun yanında acil servisin uygunsuz kullanılmasına neden olmakta ve sağlık sistemine ek yükler getirmektedir. Başlangıçta soyut bir kavram gibi görünen SOY düzeyini ölçmek için farklı yöntemlerle uygulanan birçok ölçek geliştirilmiştir. Tıp Enstitüsü tarafından yayınlanan "Health Literacy: Prescription to End Confusion" (Karışıklığı gidermek için Yönerge) da bu kavramla ilgili tüm ölçekler değerlendirilmiş ve 4 ana başlıkta toplanmıştır: Bunlar; TOFHLA (Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults), REALM (Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine), HALS (Health Activities Literacy Scale), NVS (Newest Vital Sign). Sonuç: Bu alanda öncelikle yapılması gereken, hızlı uygulanabilir, güvenilir bir ölçek geliştirilmesinin öncelik kazanmasıdır. Bunun ardından, sağlık personeli eğitimleri ile sağlık okuryazarlık düzeyi düşük bireylerin engelleri belirlenerek bunlara yönelik bazı müdahalelerde bulunabilir.

Sağlık Okuryazarlığı nedir? Nasıl ölçülür? Neden önemli?

Health literacy, when the doctor gives a medical information to a patient, it is the ability of the patient to understand, interprete the medical information and act appropriately according to this ability. Patients confront with complicated informations and treatments. Limited health literacy effects diagnosis and treatments in negative way and causes unnecessarily hospitalizations and emergency service usage, unnecessary diagnostic tests, increased hospitalizations. It also causes workforce loss and superimposed loads. Firstly, health literacy seems like a nonphysical concept but then lots of scales have been improved. Institute of Medicine published Health Literacy: Prescription to End Confusion and measured all scales of health literacy and divided into four main groups: These are TOFHLA (Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults), REALM (Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine), HALS (Health Activities Literacy Scale), NVS (Newest Vital Sign). Conclusion: The first thing that needs to be done is development of a fast applying, trustable health literacy scale. With education of the health workers, it has to be defined barriers of limited health literated people and promotions to improve them.

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