Health Literacy and its Relationship with Quality of Life in Postmenopausal Womenc

Abstract

Introduction: Menopause is considered as a unique event in women’s life. Women spend more than one third of their lives in postmenopausal period. Accordingly, paying attention to quality of life of women in terms of public health during menopause is crucial. Moreover, health literacy is one of the factors influencing the health of women. Aim: To evaluate the health literacy and its relationship with the quality of life of postmenopausal women. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out on 194 postmenopausal women admitted to health centres of Jahrom, Iran, in 2017. Data were collected using health literacy and quality of life questionnaires. After data collection, they were analysed using descriptive statistics, regression analysis and Pearson correlation coefficient and SPSS software. Results: The research results revealed that the mean age of the subjects was 59.67±6.57. The mean score of quality of life and health literacy in postmenopausal women was 47.46±19.48 and 81.29±26.99, respectively. A significant relationship was found between the quality of life and health literacy (p<0.001, r=0.4). In addition, demographic variables of age (p<0.001), education (p<0.001), job (p<0.001), and living place (p=0.001) showed significant relationship with health literacy. Conclusion: Given the relationship between health literacy and the quality of life of postmenopausal women, paying more attention to health literacy in health promotion programs seems to be essential. Thus, health care providers should take interventions to improve the quality of life of these women.

Keywords

• cross-sectional study
• general health
• iran
• menopause