Determination of Diabetes Health Literacy Levels of Patients Followed Up With Diabetic Foot Diagnosis: A Cross-Sectional Descriptive Study

Abstract

The number of studies on the diabetes health literacy of patients with diabetic foot is very limited. The aim of this study was to determine the diabetes health literacy levels of patients with diabetic foot. The data in this cross-sectional, descriptive study were collected using a sociodemographic data collection form and the Health Literacy Scale (HLS). Data were analyzed using SPSS for Windows Version 25.0 software. The HLS total score was 35.96 ± 10.70, and the Functional, Interactive and Critical subscale scores were 11.90 ± 5.04, 13.10 ± 4.80, and 10.96 ± 4.19, respectively. The diabetic health literacy level of the patients was seen to be affected by general education level, the status of having received education about diabetes, and family history of diabetes ( P < .05). The diabetes health literacy level of patients with diabetic foot can be said to be low. This demonstrates the necessity of determining and increasing the health literacy levels of patients diagnosed with diabetes before the development of diabetic foot.