Evaluation of Adults Health Literacy in Jahrom

Introduction: Health‎literacy‎refers‎to‎one’s‎capability‎of‎acquisition,‎interpretation, and comprehension of the primary health care information that is essential for a proper decision-making. The present research aimed to evaluate the level of adults' health literacy in Jahrom in 2015. Methods: The present descriptive and cross-sectional study which was applied in type, conducted on 502 adults (above 18 years of age) who were selected through convenient sampling method in Jahrom. The data collection instrument was a standardized performance health literacy in adults questionnaire. Data were analyzed by SPSS software using independent t-test and one-way ANOVA. Results: Based on the TOFHLA questionnaire, the health literacy of 82.62% of the adult subjects was adequate while that of 17.37% was close to the cut-off point. No statistically significant correlation was observed between health literacy and sex, age, and income. However, health literacy showed to be significantly correlated with education. Conclusion : The present study showed an inadequate level of health literacy among the majority of subjects. Therefore, there is a need to assist those of low health literacy by developing comprehensive plans and easy and comprehensible educational media and materials to improve their health literacy.