Abstract:

The role of health literature in the development of health is important. It is intended to determine the level of adult health literacy and to study the impact of certain behaviors associated with obesity on health literacy. Our research, which is a discontinuous type of study, has been conducted between November-December 2019 and 680 adults who apply to three family health centers in the center of Elazığ province and agree to participate in our research. As a data collection tool, the variables considered to be associated with obesity along with social demographic questions, and the "Turkish Health Reading Scale-32 (TSOY-32)" was used.  46.8% of participants were overweight and 37.9% obese. 39.0 percent of health readings were insufficient, 32.5 percent limited, 17.8 percent sufficient, 10.7 percent in excellent level. There has been a meaningful relationship between the body mass index and health literacy of individuals (p=0,018), a meaningful relationship between regular exercise, vegetable and fruit consumption and regular diet with health literacy (p=0,016, p=0,010 respectively). The result found that the majority of the participants were inadequate in health literature. It has been concluded that the insufficient level of health readiness is associated with the body’s increase. Increased awareness of the community’s health literature can be effective in achieving healthy lifestyle behaviors and weight control.

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