Functional health literacy in users of family health units from Altamira (state of Pará, Brazil):

• Autor(a) principal: Lima, Rafael Ileus Monteiro
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Parente, Mariellen Aguiar, Ferreira, Talita Isabelle Sena Pantoja, Coelho, Alexandre Apolo Silva, Loureiro, Evellyn Vitória Sousa de, Barbosa, Taynara Menezes, Lustosa , Sasha Botelho, Damasceno, Osvaldo Correia, Teixeira, Francisco Bruno
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por; eng
• Título da fonte: Revista Brasileira de Medicina de Família e Comunidade (Online)
• DOI: 10.5712/rbmfc17(44)2763
• Texto Completo: https://rbmfc.org.br/rbmfc/article/view/2763
• topic: Health literacy; Primary health care; Public health; Social determinants of health; Health education.; Alfabetización en salud; Atención primaria de salud; Salud pública; Determinantes sociales de la salud; Educación en salud.; Letramento em saúde; Atenção primária à saúde; Saúde pública; Determinantes sociais da saúde; Educação em saúde.

Introduction: Functional Health Literacy (FHL) is associated with patients’ ability to understand and use their health knowledge in the context of self-care and health promotion. Therefore, it is essential to recognize the level of FHL and identify the factors that influence it. Objective: To analyze the FHL level in users of Family Health Units (FHU) in the urban area of Altamira (state of Pará, Brazil). Methods: Cross-sectional study. Data collections took place between August 2018 and December 2019 in 12 FHU of the urban area. The sample calculation was based on the urban population of Altamira as recorded by the 2010 Population Census of IBGE. A 95% confidence interval with a margin of error of 5% and a prevalence of findings of 50% in a similar population were used, thus reaching a value of 382. The participants were interviewed to collect information on sociodemographic data. Subsequently, a questionnaire based on the Brazilian version of the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy (S-TOFHLA) was applied, which is used as an instrument to measure FHL. Pearson’s correlation coefficient, Chi-Square test, G-test, and odds ratio were used to verify the correlation between S-TOFHLA score and sociodemographic data. Furthermore, a multiple regression analysis was carried out to predict the factors that affect FHL. Finally, the ANOVA test has sought differences between the users’ FHL level in the analyzed family health units. Results:  The variables “education level,” “age,” and “income” were associated with FHL in the studied population, and predicted, respectively, 46, 26, and 17% of the performance in the S-TOFHLA test. Low education level and low income increase the risk of individuals having unsatisfactory FHL by five and four times, respectively. Finally, differences in FHL between users of the analyzed FHU were found. Conclusions: The population of the urban area of Altamira presented a high prevalence of unsatisfactory FHL. Therefore, seeking to increase the positive health results, healthcare professionals of the region must adapt their ways of communication and language to the needs of FHU users, observing that the team adequacy can improve the understanding of information and provide better conditions of recovery and self-care.