Relationships Between Health Literacy and Personal Factors and Health Behaviors of Hypertension Patients in Non Sung District, Nakhon Ratchasima Province

Abstract

This cross-sectional descriptive research design, was to identify the level of health literacy, health behaviors and the relationship between health literacy and  personal factors and health behaviors among the hypertension patients in Non Sung district, Nakhonratchasima province. The samples consisted of 385 patients classified as hypertension. Data were collected by using questionnaires, and analyzed by descriptive statistics, Chi-square and the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient .

The results of this research showed that health literacy and health behaviors of the samples were at excellent level (98.70 percent). Health literacy in terms of health information communication, media and information literacy had positively significant correlation with patient health behaviors. Personal factors which significantly correlated with health behaviors included gender, occupation, comorbidity, duration of having hypertension, health awareness, number of family members and social roles of patients. Personal factors that had significant correlation with health literacy of the hypertension of the patient included gender, age, occupation, income adequacy, duration of having hypertension, health awareness, number of family members and social roles. Therefore, community nurse, health care providers, and local government organization have to develop a plan to promote health literacy in order to enhance patient knowledge and modify their health behaviors in accordance with the patient’s age and education levels.