DOI: https://doi.org/10.14710/nmjn.v12i1.42697

Health Literacy-Related Knowledge and Experience among Nurses Practicing in Medical-Surgical Wards

Sadeq Al-Fayyadh  -  University of Baghdad, Iraq
*Mohammed Baqer Al-Jubouri orcid publons  -  University of Baghdad, Iraq
Hayder AL-Hadrawi  -  University of Kufa, Iraq
Sabah Abdullah Jaafar  -  Al-Muthanna University, Iraq
Shaymaa Mohammed Hussein  -  Al-Muthanna University, Iraq
Open Access Copyright (c) 2022 Nurse Media Journal of Nursing
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Citation Format:
Abstract

Background: Medical-surgical nurses are responsible of providing competent care to clients with a wide-array of acute and chronic health problems. This challenging task requires arming nurses with advanced competencies of health literacy to effectively educate their clients. However, evidence about medical-surgical nurse’s health literacy-related knowledge and experience is limited.  

Purposes: This study aimed to determine the level of the health literacy-related knowledge and experience among medical-surgical nurses.

Design: A descriptive-cross-sectional study was conducted among a total sample of 177 nurses who were practicing in medical-surgical wards in teaching hospitals in Iraq. A convenience sampling method was used to select the participants. Data were collected using the Health Literacy Knowledge and Experiences Survey-2 (HLKES-2). Descriptive statistics and Chi-square test were used for data analysis.

Results: The majority of nurses (92.3%) had a low level of knowledge regarding health literacy and more than half of the participants (58.7%) had an acceptable level of experience.

Conclusion: Nurses’ information about health literacy needs to be updated via continuous education to enhance their knowledge and practice regarding this aspect.
Fulltext View|Download
Keywords: Adult nursing; adult patient education; health communication; health literacy assessment; nurse’s knowledge

Article Metrics:

Article Info
Section: Articles
Language : EN
Recent articles
Discovering Elements and Developing Strategies to Implement the Tailored Care Education for Patients with Diabetes through A Systematic Review The Role of Organizational Culture in Moderating Effect of Emotional Labor Strategies on Nursing Professionalism Facilitating the Development of Clinical Competence in a Low-Resource Setting: Perceptions and Challenges of Nurse Educators Editorial Back Matter Editorial Front Matter More recent articles
  1. Al-Fayyadh, S. (2020). Whose life is it anyway? A reflective dialogue between religious and secular bioethical perspectives. Ethics, Medicine & Public Health, 14, 100429. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jemep.2019.100429
  2. Al-Fayyadh, S. & Mohammed, W. (2010). Patients’ knowledge about chronic diseases towards risk factors and warning signs of stroke. Iraqi Scientific Journal of Nursing (ISJN), 23 (special issue), 1-14. http://www.iasj.net/iasj?func=fulltext&aId=33694
  3. Al-Jubouri, M. B., & Abd Ali, M. B. (2021). Adoption the competence exam as an innovation approach to improve nurses' quality. American Journal of Nursing, 10(3), 182-184. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajns.20211003.18
  4. Ayaz-Alkaya, S., & Terzi, H. (2019). Investigation of health literacy and affecting factors of nursing students. Nurse Education in Practice, 34, 31-35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2018.10.009
  5. Bergh, A. L., Friberg, F., Persson, E., & Dahlborg-Lyckhage, E. (2015). Registered nurses' patient education in everyday primary care practice: Managers' discourses. Global Qualitative Nursing Research, 2, e1-12 https://doi.org/10.1177/2333393615599168
  6. Berkman, N. D., Davis, T. C., & McCormack, L. (2010). Health literacy: What is it? Journal of Health Communication, 15(S2), 9-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2010.499985
  7. Brooks, C., Ballinger, C., Nutbeam, D., Mander, C., & Adams, J. (2020). Nursing and allied health professionals’ views about using health literacy screening tools and a universal precautions approach to communication with older adults: A qualitative study. Disability and Rehabilitation, 42(13), 1819-1825. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2018.1538392
  8. Cafiero, M. (2013). Nurse practitioners' knowledge, experience, and intention to use health literacy strategies in clinical practice. Journal of Health Communication, 18(sup1), 70-81. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2013.825665
  9. Chang, Y. W., Li, T. C., Chen, Y. C., Lee, J. H., Chang, M. C., & Huang, L. C. (2020). Exploring knowledge and experience of health literacy for Chinese-speaking nurses in Taiwan: A cross-sectional study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(20), 7609. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17207609
  10. Coleman, C. (2011). Teaching health care professionals about health literacy: A review of the literature. Nursing Outlook, 59(2), 70-78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2010.12.004
  11. Coleman, C. A., & Appy, S. (2012). Health literacy teaching in US medical schools, 2010. Family Medicine, 44(7), 504-507. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22791536/
  12. Grønning, K., Bratås, O., & Steinsbekk, A. (2017). Patients’ perceptions of having a good life one year after arthritis patient education: A qualitative study nested within a randomized controlled trial. Nurse Media Journal of Nursing, 7(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.14710/nmjn.v7i1.15123
  13. Huhta, A. M., Hirvonen, N., & Huotari, M. L. (2018). Health literacy in web-based health information environments: Systematic review of concepts, definitions, and operationalization for measurement. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 20(12), e10273. https://doi.org/10.2196/10273
  14. Kannampallil, T. G., Schauer, G. F., Cohen, T., & Patel, V. L. (2011). Considering complexity in healthcare systems. Journal of Biomedical Iinformatics, 44(6), 943-947. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbi.2011.06.006
  15. Karimi Moonaghi, H., Emami Zeydi, A., & Mirhaghi, A. (2016). Patient education among nurses: bringing evidence into clinical applicability in Iran. Investigación y Educación en Enfermería, 34(1), 137-151. https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.iee.v34n1a16
  16. Kennard, D. (2017). Emergency room nurses knowledge of and experience with health literacy and their patient teaching methods. Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs). 2270. https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations/2270
  17. Liu, C., Wang, D., Liu, C., Jiang, J., Wang, X., Chen, H., Ju, X., & Zhang, X. (2020). What is the meaning of health literacy? A systematic review and qualitative synthesis. Family Medicine and Community Health, 8(2), e000351. https://doi.org/10.1136/fmch-2020-000351
  18. Loew, J. T. (2015). Educating medical-surgical/staff nurses to improve nursing knowledge of patient education, focusing on health literacy (Doctoral dissertation, Walden University). https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3007&context=dissertations
  19. Manion, J. (2009). The engaged workforce: Proven strategies to build a positive health care. (1st ed., p. 36). AHA press
  20. Matthews, J. D. (2018). Health literacy among female university students in the United Arab Emirates. International Journal of Health Promotion and Education, 56(6), 298-308. https://doi.org/10.1080/14635240.2018.1536524
  21. Mosley, C. M., & Taylor, B. J. (2017). Integration of health literacy content into nursing curriculum utilizing the health literacy expanded model. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, 12(2), 109-116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.teln.2016.12.005
  22. Nantsupawat, A., Wichaikhum, O. A., Abhicharttibutra, K., Kunaviktikul, W., Nurumal, M. S. B., & Poghosyan, L. (2020). Nurses' knowledge of health literacy, communication techniques, and barriers to the implementation of health literacy programs: A cross‐sectional study. Nursing & Health Sciences, 22(3), 577-585. https://doi.org/10.1111/nhs.12698
  23. Nesari, M., Olson, J. K., Nasrabadi, A. N., & Norris, C. (2019). Registered nurses' knowledge of and experience with health literacy. HLRP: Health Literacy Research and Practice, 3(4), e268-e279. https://doi.org/10.3928/24748307-20191021-01
  24. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (n.d.). Increase the health literacy of the population — HC/HIT‑R01. Healthy People 2030. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/health-communication/increase-health-literacy-population-hchit-r01
  25. Overbaugh, K. J. (2020). Advance Care planning: An update for the medical-surgical nurse in the age of COVID-19. Medsurg Nursing, 29(5), 299-307
  26. Rademakers, J., & Heijmans, M. (2018). Beyond Reading and understanding: Health literacy as the capacity to act. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(8), 1676. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15081676
  27. Seng, J. J. B., Yeam, C. T., Huang, W. C., Tan, N. C., & Low, L. L. (2020). Pandemic related health literacy-A systematic review of literature in COVID-19, SARS and MERS pandemics. Medrxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.07.20094227
  28. Vamos, S., Okan, O., Sentell, T., & Rootman, I. (2020). Making a case for “education for health literacy”: An international perspective. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(4), 1436. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17041436
  29. Walker, D., Howe, C., Dunkerley, M., Deupree, J., & Cormier, C. (2019). The HLKES-2: Revision and evaluation of the health literacy knowledge and experiences survey. Journal of Nursing Education, 58(2), 86-92. https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20190122-05
  30. Wittenberg, E., Ferrell, B., Kanter, E., & Buller, H. (2018). Health literacy: Exploring nursing challenges to providing support and understanding. Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, 22(1), 53-61. https://doi.org/10.1188/18.CJON.53-61
  31. Yusoff, M. S. B. (2019). ABC of content validation and content validity index calculation. Resource, 11(2), 49-54. https://doi.org/10.21315/eimj2019.11.2.6

Last update:

No citation recorded.

Last update:

No citation recorded.