Coronavirus related health literacy: a cross- sectional study during the covid-19 infodemic in iran

INTRODUCTION: Health literacy is the ability to obtain, read, understand and use healthcare information to make appropriate health decisions and follow treatment guidelines. This type of literacy is one of the key issues of the World Health Organization. With the onset of COVID-19 disease, the public needs to have access to new and accurate information. The present study investigated the Coronavirus-related health literacy in COVID-19 patients referred to a teaching hospital in a developing country and its relationship with demographic variables. METHOD: This survey research is a descriptive-analytical type. The research instrument includes coronavirus-related health literacy questionnaires (HLS-COVID-Q22) which was approved and used in 2020. Patients with COVID-19 were referred to Imam Reza teaching hospital in Mashhad-Iran from December 5, 2020 to July 5, 2021.The samples were selected using a sample size determination formula of 190 people. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS26 software. RESULTS: The overall average score of health literacy related to coronavirus in patients with COVID-19 at Imam Reza teaching hospital in is 84.31 which is the desired level. Among the dimensions of health literacy, the highest score belonged to "Understanding health information" (D3) with a mean (standard deviation) of 23.38 (5.66) and the lowest score belonged to "Evaluate health information" (D1) with a mean (standard deviation) of 19.03 (4.69). According to the p-value (0.001) of the test, "Age" as a demographic factor, is the only factor that has been associated with health literacy related to the coronavirus. CONCLUSION: Although the level of Coronavirus-related health literacy is favorable in this study, the participants in this study were mostly patients who were able to answer the research questions, were not hospitalized, had a sufficient level of literacy to understand the questionnaire questions, and most of them were medical staff who were familiar with the components of health literacy. However, considering that health literacy training related to Coronavirus has an effective role in disease prevention and control, therefore, creating and promoting the necessary platform for teaching the components of health literacy, especially for elders is recommended by trustees and policymakers. Lack of proper evaluation of information sources leads to improper health practice. So, holding training sessions, using social media facilities, holding workshops and developing programs related to teaching health literacy-related components of COVID-19 in public media will help increase public awareness during the Corona pandemic.