Health Literacy and COVID-19 Awareness Among Preservice Primary School Teachers and Influencing Factors in Turkey

ÖZTÜRK F. Ö., TEZEL A.

JOURNAL OF SCHOOL HEALTH, vol.92, no.12, pp.1128-1136, 2022 (SCI-Expanded, SSCI, Scopus) identifier identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 92 Issue: 12
  • Publication Date: 2022
  • Doi Number: 10.1111/josh.13231
  • Journal Name: JOURNAL OF SCHOOL HEALTH
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, ASSIA, PASCAL, Applied Science & Technology Source, CAB Abstracts, CINAHL, EBSCO Education Source, Education Abstracts, Educational research abstracts (ERA), EMBASE, ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Food Science & Technology Abstracts, MEDLINE, Public Affairs Index, SportDiscus, Veterinary Science Database
  • Page Numbers: pp.1128-1136
  • Keywords: health literacy, COVID-19 pandemic, awareness, primary schools, children, PROMOTION, WOMEN, LEVEL
  • Ankara University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Background Primary school teachers play an important role in furnishing children with basic knowledge about health literacy and awareness of COVID-19. This study was conducted to determine the levels of health literacy and COVID-19 awareness among preservice primary school teachers and the factors associated with this. Methods The sample of this cross-sectional and correlational study consists of 978 preservice primary school teachers studying at 4 major universities in Turkey. The participation rate was 90.14%. Data were collected with 3 questionnaires, the Descriptive Characteristics Form, the Health Literacy Scale, and the COVID-19 Awareness Scale. Results The mean score of the Health Literacy scale was 105.16 (SD = 13.04). The mean scores of the Contagion Precaution Awareness, Awareness of Following Current Developments, and Hygiene Precaution Awareness subscales of the Coronavirus Awareness Scale were 34.27 (SD = 6.19), 12.94 (SD = 4.34), and 11.69 (SD = 3.60), respectively. It was determined that the total health literacy score was affected by gender, school, and grade/year (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior) and that COVID-19 awareness was affected by gender, age, grade/year, school, having contracted COVID-19 or not, and being vaccinated or not in the various subscales (p < 0.05). Conclusions Preservice primary school teachers' health literacy was found to be sufficient with a moderate level of COVID-19 awareness. We recommend planning interventions for preservice primary school teachers that will improve their health literacy and COVID-19 awareness, taking influential factors into account when doing this planning.