Health literacy of informal caregivers of patients undergoing neurosurgery

Abstract Objective identify the level of Health Literacy (HL) of informal caregivers and their knowledge about the surgical treatment and postoperative period of patients undergoing neurosurgery. Method QUAL+quan study conducted in 2023 in a public hospital in São Paulo. Participants included informal caregivers of neurosurgical patients aged 18 years or older. Data collection employed a sociodemographic questionnaire, the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire short-short form (HLS-EU-Q6) to measure HL, and the Ask Me Three® tool. Results among the 71 caregivers, 71.8% were women, with a mean age of 47 ± 13 years, and 61.9% exhibited likely problematic HL. Three categories and eight subcategories emerged from the guiding questions. From the caregivers' experience, three categories and eight subcategories emerged. Caregivers identify and understand the patients' care needs in the postoperative period. However, they have doubts about the care to be provided at home and consider themselves important for the patient's recovery. Final considerations and practice implications to practice assessing the caregivers' HL level can contribute to the transition from hospital care to home care. Furthermore, the Ask Me Three® tool can help nurses identify the need for guidance and implement educational actions that promote caregivers' HL.