Özet:

Objective: The aim of this study is investigating the relationship between health literacy levels of mothers of infants treated in the neonatal intensive care unit with their knowledge of baby care at home. Materials and Methods: This descriptive and analytical study was conducted with 129 mothers whose babies were hospitalized in neonatal intensive care units. Data were obtained using the Neonatal Home Care Knowledge Questionnaire and the Newest Vital Signs (NVS) Scale. Results: Of the mothers participating in the study, 65.1% had a limited, 16.3% had a possibly limited and 18.6% had an adequate level of health literacy. The mean score the mothers obtained from the Neonatal Home Care Knowledge Questionnaire was 17.79 ± 4.66. The high school and university graduate mothers (p = 0.000), the mothers who were knowledgeable about when and how to give additional doses of antipyretic and appropriate amount of fruit juice (p = 0.017) and the mothers with limited health literacy obtained lower mean scores from the the mothers with sufficient literacy (p = 0.000). There was a correlation between the mean scores obtained from the Neonatal Home Care Knowledge Questionnaire and the Newest Vital Signs (r = 0.37; p = 0.000). Conclusion: It is recommended that the duration and content of the training given to expectant mothers on baby care information should be extended, and that educational content and materials should be developed by determining their health literacy levels.

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