Association between health literacy with knowledge, attitude, and performance of health-care providers in applying health literacy education strategies for health education delivery

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Recognized as one of the key elements of growth and development, education is an important strategy for successful provision of services in all social dimensions. Moreover, it is categorized among empowerment tools to achieve goals. In the field of health, health education encourages people to be healthy. This study aimed to evaluate the health literacy of health-care providers and its relationship with strategies of using health literacy in the provision of health education. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-section correlational study was carried out on a group of health-care providers in Isfahan, Iran, in the second trimester of the Persian year 1397 (2018). Participants were selected by multistage sampling, for which two questionnaires of Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults and inventory of strategies of using health literacy in education were applied. The validity and reliability of the research tools were formerly approved. In addition, data analysis was performed in SPSS version 21 using Pearson's correlation coefficient and linear regression model. RESULTS: In total, 230 participants with a mean age of 34.32 ± 7.71 years were entered into the study, 92.9% of whom were female and 7.1% were male. The mean health literacy score of the participants was 79.60 ± 12.41. In the sections of knowledge, attitude, and performance were related to the use of health literacy education strategies, and we obtained the means 5.20 ± 1.94, 43.11 ± 4.11, and 28.96 ± 6.73, respectively. Moreover, Pearson's results were indicative of a significant relationship between health literacy of health-care providers and knowledge (r = 0.245; P < 0.05) and performance (r = 0.208. P < 0.05) regarding the use of education strategies. However, no significant association was found between health literacy of health-care providers and attitude toward the use of health literacy education strategies (r = 0.081; P = 0.225). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: While the results showed that 75% of health-care providers had a favorable level of health literacy, and despite the proper attitude toward the use of health literacy education strategies, the knowledge and performance of the participants were estimated at < 60% in this regard. It is suggested that the potential of health-care providers in terms of achieving, processing, and perceiving health-related information and fundamental services be improved to enhance their knowledge and performance regarding the use of health literacy education strategies.