Kronik Psikiyatri Hastalarının Bakım Vericilerinin Sağlık Okuryazarlığı Durumunun Belirlenmesi

Objective: This study was conducted as a descriptive and cross-sectional study to determine the health literacy status of caregivers of patients diagnosed with chronic psychiatric diseases.Method: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted with the caregivers of 184 patients diagnosed with chronic psychiatric diseases who applied to the psychiatry outpatient clinic of a public hospital. The research data were collected using the "Patient Identification Form", "Caregiver Identification Form" and "Health Literacy Scale". t-test, variance analysis, Tukey, Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis H test and Pearson correlation analysis were used in the analysis of the data.Findings: 61.4% of the caregivers in the study were female. Caregivers who were female, single, aged 26-35, university educated, the patient's child, and had lived with the patient for more than 21 years had higher health literacy scale scores. Health literacy scale scores of caregivers of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia who had previously been hospitalized in a psychiatric ward were lower, and health literacy scale scores of caregivers of patients who had not been hospitalized in a psychiatric ward in the last year were higher. A weak negative correlation was found between the age of caregivers and the health literacy scale score.Conclusion and Recommendation: It was determined that most of the caregivers were women, and that women, single young adults, and university educated caregivers had higher health literacy scale scores. Nurses determining the health literacy status of caregivers and making plans to improve it will strengthen the caregiver role and support the maintenance of the patient's well-being.