Examination of Health Literacy Level of Male Technical Personnel, Turkey -

Abstract

Introduction: Health literacy is a concept that is influential in protecting and improving health, health choices and behaviors of an individual and whose use has been increasing. Objective: It is aimed at determining the existing health literacy level in technical personnel who frequently have professional illnesses in time and whose sociodemographic characteristics are influential at this level. Methods: In this study with cross sectional characteristic, all the technical personnel working at a South Korean based international electronics company’s regional authorized service centre in Ankara were reached. Survey method was used as data collection instrument. In the analysis of data, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were applied using the SPSS 21.0 program. In determining the health literacy level, the BRIEF scale was used and explanatory and confirmatory factor analyses were done, using the AMOS 21.0 program to measure the structural validity of the scale. Results: All the technical personnel were male and the mean age was found to be 31,95±7,87 years. It was found that the health literacy levels of 90% of participants was insufficient and that sociodemographic characteristics were not influential on the health literacy level. The BRIEF health literacy scale that had been originally developed as a single factor was found as a two-factor scale. Conclusion: It is thought that the results of this study in which the health literacy was examined first time on the technical personnel would increase the awareness on health literacy, and provide managers in the electronic and health sectors with important information. In addition, it is considered that the development of the BRIEF health literacy scale in conformity with the Turkish society would be appropriate.