ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess the impact of health literacy and patient empowerment on diabetes self-care behaviour in patients in metropolitan Turkish diabetes centres. The conceptual background is provided by the psychological health empowerment model, which holds that health literacy without patient empowerment comes down to wasting health resources, while empowerment without health literacy can lead to dangerous or suboptimal health behaviour.Design, setting and participantsA cross-sectional study was conducted with 167 patients over the age of 18 from one of two diabetes clinics in a major Turkish City. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to eligible outpatients who had an appointment in one of the clinics. Health literacy was measured by a newly translated Turkish version of the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (S-TOFHLA) and the Chew self-report scale. Patient empowerment was measured by a 12-item scale based on Spreitzer's conceptualisation of psychological empowerment in the workplace. Self-care behaviour was measured by the Self-care behaviours were measured by the Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities Measure (SDSCA). Level of diabetes knowledge was measured by Diabetes Knowledge Test.ResultsTwo subscales of empowerment, impact and self-determination, predicted self-reported frequency of self-care behaviours. Neither health literacy nor diabetes knowledge had an effect on self-care behaviours.ConclusionsHealth literacy might be more effective in clinical decisions while empowerment might exert a stronger influence on habitual health behaviours.

This study aimed to validate a Turkish version of the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy (S-TOFHLA) (Baker et al, Development of a brief test to measure functional health literacy. Patient Educ Counsel 1999; 38: :33-42) and a Turkish version of the Chew self-report scale (Chew et al., Brief questions to identify patients with inadequate health literacy. Family Med, 2004; 36: :588-94) for measuring functional health literacy. The original English version of the S-TOFHLA and the Chew items were translated by applying standardized translation methods and cultural adaptations, and both were administered to a sample of diabetes patients (N = 302) in two diabetes clinics in one of the major cities in Turkey. Self-administered paper-pencil questionnaires were distributed to eligible outpatients who had a clinic appointment. In addition to the S-TOFHLA measurement and the Chew screening questions, gender, age, educational attainment, income, marital status and diabetes knowledge were obtained. The Turkish version of S-TOFHLA showed high internal consistency. Both S-TOFHLA and the Chew screening scale correlated significantly with known predictors of health literacy: age, education and income. The Chew scale was also related weakly but significantly with general diabetes knowledge. It is expected that the Turkish versions of S-TOFHLA and the Chew scale will be used in Turkey as well as in other countries with large Turkish communities.

Dijitalleşmenin olanak sağladığı çevrimiçi platformların yeni bir kamusal alan oluşturup oluşturmadığı iddiası son yılların aktüel tartışmalarından biridir. En yalın hali ile kamusal alan; toplumun ortak çıkarlarını hedefe alarak gerçekleştirilen söylem ve eylemlerin bütününü kapsamaktadır. Bu kapsamda kolektif bir katılım söz konusudur. Fakat dijitalleşme ile gerek sosyal paylaşım platformları gerekse çevrimdışı mecralarda kamusal alan kavramının “ortak yarar” işlevini yerine getiremediği iddiası hala güncelliğini korumaktadır. Özellikle kullanıcının etken bir konumda olduğu sosyal medyanın kamusal alan eksenindeki fonksiyonunu anlamak adına önem arz etmektedir. Sosyal medyanın enformasyon akış ve yayılımındaki gücü infodemi riskini meydana getirmektedir. Bu kapsamda çalışmanın amacı 6 Şubat 2023 tarihinde meydana gelen Kahramanmaraş merkezli depremin ardından afet döneminde oluşan infodemide sosyal medyanın rolünü dijital kamusal alan kavramı ekseninde incelemektir. Çalışma niceliksel olarak desenlenmiş olup, Ölçüt Örneklem yöntemi ile seçilen Teyit ve Doğruluk Payı platformlarının teyide ihtiyaç duyduğu afet ile ilgili haberler İçerik Analizi tekniği ile analiz edilmiştir. Çalışmanın sonucunda, afet döneminde dolaşıma giren enformasyonun teyit ihtiyacını arttırdığı, hatalı ilişkilendirilen ve çarpıtma haberlerin yoğunlaştığı ve dijital kamusal alanın afet dönemlerinde toplumsal ortak yarar işlevini tam olarak yerine getiremediği ortaya konulmuştur.

POLITICAL COMMUNICATION IN DIGITAL MEDIA and ONLINE POLITICAL PARTICIPATION of GENERATION Z ABSTRACT Today, thanks to the use of data mining and machine learning on social media platforms, all personal data of individuals has become accessible. The effective use of this data has also started to transform political communication. In this study, data was collected from 356 social media user university students aged 18-24 studying in Istanbul through an online survey to analyze the impact of the use of personalized digital data and post-truth content in political communication on Generation Z's online political participation. According to the findings, the participants are not indifferent to the political agenda, but they show a passive online political participation behavior, as well as they worry that their personal digital data will be used in situations they do not consent to, and they are not completely sure about the accuracy of the online political content they encounter. These results, in relation to each other, show that young people both enter the spiral of silence of the digital age and feel the pressure created by the concept of surveillance society. Keywords: Generation z, Data mining, Personalized digital data, Online political participation.