Study on the status quo of health literacy of surgical patients and its influencing factors

ObjectiveTo study the current situation of health literacy of surgical patients and its influencing factors, and provide a scientific basis for the development of targeted educational strategies and realization of good health outcomes.

MethodsFour hundred and two patients were randomly selected from a grade A tertiary hospital, and investigated using the general questionnaire and Chinese-version all aspects of health liteacy scale(C-AAHLS) on the spot.The SPSS 24.0 software was used to make descriptive statistics on the status quo of health literacy, and the multiple linear regression analysis was used to analyze its influencing factors.

ResultsThe total score of health literacy in surgical patients was (23.16±4.00)points, the score of interactive health literacy was the highest(2.35±0.49)points, and the score of critical health literacy was the lowest(1.80±0.59)points.The results of univariate analysis showed that the differences of the age, occupation, education level, marital status, monthly family income, registered permanent residence, long-term residence, payment method of hospitalization expense, source of hospitalization expense and understanding degree of hospital WeChat platform of among different health literacy were statistically significant(P < 0.05 to P < 0.01).The results of multiple linear regression analysis showed that the long-term residence, source of hospitalization expenses and understanding of hospital's WeChat platform were the independent influencing factors of interactive health literacy, critical health literacy and total health literacy levels of surgical inpatients(P < 0.05 to P < 0.01).The long-term residence and knowledge of hospital WeChat platform were the independent influencing factors of functional health literacy(P < 0.05 and P < 0.01).

ConclusionsThe overall health literacy of surgical patients is at a medium level, but the ability to evaluate and apply health information is low.It is suggested that nursing staff should use the professional communication skills to help patients critically analyze health information on the basis of accurate evaluation of patients' health literacy level, so as to promote the improvement of patients' health outcomes.