The relationship between health literacy and the adoption of preventive behaviors against high blood pressure among villagers: A cross-sectional study in Iran.

BACKGROUND

Considering the limited number of studies on health literacy among the rural population, the necessity of measuring the level of health literacy, and the increasing number of patients with hypertension, the present study aimed to determine the relationship between health literacy and the adoption of preventive behaviors in high blood pressure among the villagers.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

In a descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study, 300 villagers living in Qayenat were selected by multi-stage random sampling in 2024. The data were obtained by demographic and background characteristics and the health literacy assessment questionnaire (HELIA) as well as a valid and reliable questionnaire to measure the adoption of preventive behaviors against hypertension. The data were analyzed using SPSS ver 22. (IBM Coporation, Armonk, NY) and descriptive statistics and logistic regression.

RESULTS

The mean and standard deviation of adoption of preventive behaviors against hypertension and health literacy were 15.188 ± 1.215 and 61.07 ± 18.206, respectively, and both were at an unfavorable level. Health literacy, the number of children, the amount of physical activity per week, and the history of having high blood pressure were effective factors in adopting preventive behaviors against high blood pressure.

CONCLUSION

The adoption of preventive behaviors against hypertension was lower among villagers with lower health literacy, having more children, less physical activity per week, and those who had no history of hypertension. Therefore, community health policymakers must design educational interventions in health literacy and hypertension prevention to help improve these patients' health.