Assessment of Health Literacy and Self-care Behaviors among Patients Discharged from COVID-19 Wards

The rapid outbreak of the new COVID-19 virus has become an international health challenge. Confronting the prevalence of this pathogenic virus requires, in the first step, health literacy and self-care on people’s part.

This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out over three months. A total of 67 patients discharged from a COVID-19 ward were selected randomly. Data were collected using a validated researcher-made questionnaire on health literacy and self-care. The data were then analyzed using SPSS software version 16.

Sixty-seven patients (mean age: 45.32 ± 9.39; age range: 29 - 87) were assessed. The majority were male (64.2%), married (79.1%), illiterate (44.8%), and homemaker or unemployed (37.3%). The overall mean score of health literacy and self-care was moderate. The results of the Pearson correlation test showed a significantly positive association between overall health literacy and its components as well as the total self-care and its components among the patients studied (p <.001).

Since self-care increases with health literacy among COVID-19 patients, it demands educational interventions in this area to improve health literacy.