ABSTRACT
Objective
To describe functional health literacy in patients with coronary artery diseases and analyze its correlation with educational level.
Method
Analytical descriptive study with a quantitative approach conducted in a cardiology hospital in Fortaleza, Ceará (CE), Brazil, from January 2015 to December 2018, with 76 participants. The Care Report Form was used for data collection and literacy categorization was performed using the Short Assessment of Health Literacy for Portuguese-Speaking Adults. Statistical analysis was performed in SPSS software using Pearson’s chi-square test (p<0.05) for testing the relationships and cross-tabulation of the variables.
Results
It was found that 85.5% of the participants had a low level of education and an inadequate level of functional health literacy. The p-value for the association between level of education and level of literacy was 0.890.
Conclusion
Nurses’ knowledge about aspects related to the management of self-care by patients is an important strategy for providing high quality care.
DESCRIPTORS
Cardiovascular diseases; Coronary Artery Disease; Cardiovascular Nursing; Health Literacy; Health education