Health literacy levels of the workers in a steel factory: A cross sectional study in Turkey

Abstract

Health literacy is important as it shows the degree to which a person understands and interprets medical information and makes the appropriate health decision. The workers of steel factories are often faced with health information and issues in their work place related to personal protection, occupational hazards and occupational injuries. Therefore, it is important to demonstrate the health literacy of the workers to ensure health literacy responsive work places. This paper aims to show the health literacy level of the steel factory male workers in Turkey. In this study, in order to measure the health literacy level of men, REALM and NVS scales were used. Additionally, questions related to socio-demographics and the health information sources and General Health Questionnaire were applied. For the analysis, chi-square and ANOVA tests were used. Of the participants, the mean age was 34.9 ± 8.8 (min.-max. = 18-53), the mean scores were 64.0 ± 2.1, 3.2 ± 1.2, and 1.5 ± 0.8, respectively for REALM, NVS and GHQ scales. According to REALM scale, 8.1% (n = 20) of the workers had limited health literacy. Whereas, in the NVS scale, 5.7% (n = 14) had inadequate health literacy, and 55.1 % (n = 136) had limited health literacy. At least one of every ten workers had limited or inadequate health literacy level. The results should be taken into consideration by the healthcare providers and policymakers while implementing health promotion interventions to increase the health literacy level of the workers.