Healthcare providers’ knowledge, attitude, and practice respecting health literacy

Abstract

Background and aims: Health literacy (HL) is a factor with significant impact on the quality of communication between healthcare providers and clients and the outcomes of healthcare services. The aim of the study was to evaluate healthcare providers’ HL-related knowledge, attitude, and practice. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in 2019–2020. Participants were all eligible healthcare providers in all eleven urban healthcare centers in Shahrekord, Iran. A demographic questionnaire and a researcher-made HL-related knowledge, attitude, and practice questionnaire were used for data collection and the SPSS software (v. 18.0) was used for data analysis. Results: The mean scores of participants’ HL-related knowledge, attitude, and practice were 39.62±14.23, 37.54±16.56, and 56.54±19.19, respectively. There was a significant positive correlation between the mean scores of HL-related attitude and practice (P=0.001). Conclusion: Healthcare providers may have poor HL-related knowledge and attitude and moderate HL-related practice. Therefore, in-service educational programs are recommended to improve their HL-related knowledge, attitude, and practice.

Keywords

• health literacy
• knowledge
• attitude
• practice