Kadınların sağlık okuryazarlığı ile jinekolojik kanserlere yönelik farkındalıkları arasındaki ilişkinin belirlenmesi

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between women's health literacy levels and gynecological cancer awareness.Materials and Methods: The descriptive-correlational study was conducted with 305 participants. The data of the study were collected through an online questionnaire between February-September 2023. The Introductory Information Form, the Health Literacy Scale (HLS) and the Gynecological Cancer Awareness Scale (GCAS), were used as data collection tools.Results: The mean age of the participants in this study was 34.31 years. 49.2% of the participants had a bachelor's degree or higher, 59.3% were unemployed, 61.3% belonged to the middle-income group, 67.9% lived in the city, 32.8% did not have regular annual gynecological examinations, 47.9% had never had a pap smear test, and 62.3% thought they did not have enough information about HPV vaccination. The mean total score of the participants was 53.92±8.21 on the HLS and 153.21±18.15 on the GCAS. Significant differences were found between the total scores of the HLS and GCAS and some characteristics of the women such as education level, employment status, place of residence, having pap smear test and thinking that they had sufficient information about HPV vaccines (p<0.05). A significant positive correlation was found between the women's total score of the HLS and the total score of the GCAS (r=0.319; p<0.001).Conclusion: Women's health literacy and gynecological cancer awareness were found to be affected by sociodemographic and gynecological characteristics. It was determined that as women's health literacy levels increased, their gynecological cancer awareness also increased.