Health literacy level and related factors among pregnant women referring to bojnord health centers in 2017

It is generally accepted that health literacy is a vital and modifiable factor in improvement of access to health information, communication with healthcare providers and orientation towards a healthcare system. Moreover, it is a central element in the capacity of a woman to involve with health promotion activities and to prevent herself and her children. These will be difficult or impossible without an adequate understanding of healthcare information. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to determine the health literacy level and its related factors among pregnant women referring to health centers in Bojnord in 2017. The present descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study was conducted in 2017 among pregnant women referring to health centers in Bojnord, Iran. The sample size was 394 people who were selected using a multistage sampling (stratified and simple randomized) method. A two-part questionnaire was used to collect data. The data were analyzed by SPSS version 20 software using descriptive (mean, standard deviation and frequency) and analytic (independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance and linear regression) statistics.According to the findings, the mean age of the participants in the study was 26.69±5.85 and their mean health literacy score was 76.89±12.09. The health literacy of 387 (98.2) was at optimal level. The linear regression results revealed a significant relationship between health literacy and age and educational level of pregnant women (P