Assessing the Health Literacy of Citizens about Traditional Medicine: A Case Study of Evaz District, Iran in 2018

Background: Health literacy is an individual and social capacity for access, understanding, evaluation of information and health services, and the optimal value for health promo tion. Traditional medicine is a common practice in Iran, which has been underestimated for some reason. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the level of awareness and adherence of citizens in traditional medicineMethods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out on 130 citizens of Evaz district through a randomized sampling in 2018. The data gathering tool was a standard questionnaire entitled MSU/TAM Health Literacy Scale, which included 5 demographic questions and 20 questions related to traditional health literacy that its validity and its reliability were confirmed. Data were analyzed using SPSS ver.21 softwareResults: Individuals with an equal sex ratio participated in the study, and half of the interviewees had a university degree in non-university education. 53.1% of citizens were aware of traditional medicine, while only 8.8% of them were not well informed about traditional medicine. Most of the subjects (86.9%) believed that traditional medicine had no complications. The high percentage of citizens (91.5%) knew of the need to legislate for the use of traditional medicine. About 93% of the citizens were unaware of the ways to influence traditional medicine. About half (44%) believed that they would not need to inform their physician for the use of traditional medicineConclusion: According to the results of this study, more than half of the people were aware of the types of traditional medicine, since the main factors in the development of traditional medicine meth ods in the society are people s awareness, increasing the awareness and information of people about medicine the traditional one is inevitable through mass media and TV, in particular

کلیدواژه ها:

Health Literacy ، Traditional Medicine ، Awareness ، Citizens ، Evaz