SAĞLAM ÇOCUK TAKİBİNDE EBEVEYNLERİN ROLÜ VE SAĞLIK OKURYAZARLIĞI.

Objectives: Healthy child follow-up is mostly carried out by family physicians working in primary care and their parents. The aim of our study is to draw attention to the responsibilities of families in healthy child followup, to raise awareness, and to determine their relationship with health literacy situations. Materials and Methods: The study was planned as an observational and cross-sectional survey. It was carried out on parents with children between the ages of 0-5 years followed up in a family health center in Ankara.648 families were invited to study. We developed a structured questionnaire and used Turkey Health Literacy Scale(TSOY-32) in order to measure the parents' health literacy. After obtaining the necessary permissions, the questionnaire was filled through the face-to-face questionnaire application method. Results: 269 families agreed to participate in the study. The median score of total TSOY-32 was calculated as 32.3 and it was included in the “limited-problematic” health literacy group. It was determined that the TSOY32 scores were significantly higher in high education and good income levels and among working parents. It was determined that the parents who “regularly make their children’s follow-ups by themselves” have higher health literacy total and component scores than the parents who “follow-up by their doctor’s calling”. Conclusion: Health literacy knowledge level scores of the families were lower than expected. Health literacy is an important factor in raising awareness of health-related responsibilities for building a healthy society. This study has made awareness among families in terms of what to do about child follow-up and contributed to the literature on a more careful, healthy, and conscious follow-up on the identified issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]