Valuation of the Relationship of Health Literacy and Healthy Eating Attitude in Obesity

Abstract

Objective: The aim of our study; to measure the health literacy levels of individuals with obesity, to evaluate their attitudes towards healthy eating and to reveal whether there is any relationship between them.

Methods: 284 obese volunteers were included in the study. After the socio-demographic data of the participants were collected, their health literacy levels were evaluated with the European Health Literacy Scale Turkish version (HLS-TR-Q). In addition, the Attitudes Towards Healthy Eating Scale (ATHES) was applied to evaluate the participants’ attitudes towards healthy eating.

Results: Of the 284 volunteers participating in the study, 174 (61.3%) were female and 110 (38.7%) were male. When the participants’ health literacy levels were categorized; It was observed that 31% of them had “inadequate” health literacy, 37.7% had a “problematic/limited” level, 21.1% had a “sufficient” level and 10.2% had an “excellent” level. The total mean score of the participants from the ATHES was 72.1±11.2, and the attitude towards healthy eating was at a “high” level. A statistically significant difference was not found when the total mean scores of ATHES were compared according to the obesity classes of the participants. When health literacy levels were compared according to obesity classes, it was seen that the total health literacy scores of individuals with class 3 obesity (32.0±9.5) were significantly higher than those of individuals with class 2 obesity (28.0±8.2).

Conclusion: In our study, it was seen that the health literacy levels were low and their attitudes towards healthy eating were high in obese individuals. In addition, it was seen that body mass index, education status, dieting to lose weight before and ATHES total scores made a significant difference in increasing health literacy.