Relationships between health literacy and quality of life among survivors with breast cancer

• Published in: International journal of nursing practice 2021-04, Vol.27 (2), p.e12922-n/a
• Main Authors: Wei, Ching‐Wen, Wu, Mei‐Lan, Tung, Heng‐Hsin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Body mass index; Breast cancer; Health education; Health information; Health literacy; Health status; Mental health; Nurses; Nursing; Quality of life; Survivor; survivors
• ISSN: 1322-7114; 1440-172X
• DOI: 10.1111/ijn.12922

Purpose During the survival period of breast cancer patients, an understanding of and ability to implement health knowledge may be important for survivors' physical and mental quality of life (QOL). This study aims to investigate the health literacy and predictors of QOL for survivors of breast cancer. Method A cross‐sectional design was used, and convenience sampling was performed. Eighty‐six survivors with breast cancer were recruited from a general hospital in northern Taiwan from February to August 2017. Taiwan's health literacy scale and SF‐12 questionnaire were used for data collection. Results The average health literacy score was 3.28. Education level and breast cancer stage were significant factors for the health literacy of survivors with breast cancer. Age, body mass index and health literacy were predictors of physical health‐related QOL. Health literacy also was a predictor of mental health‐related QOL. Conclusion The results provide the factors associated health literacy as well as health‐related QOL. Nurses should understand the health literacy among survivors with breast cancer and improve health literacy to optimize their quality of life. SUMMARY STATEMENT What is already known about this topic? Individuals with lower health literacy generally had fewer communications with medical personnel regarding their own risk of disease. Individuals with higher health literacy tend to have better social‐related QOL. What this paper adds? Survivors with early‐stage breast cancer tended to be younger (aged 60 years or less) had normal body mass index, continued working, had no other illnesses and better physical health. Survivors with normal body mass index who had not received chemotherapy had better mental health. Health literacy was the main predictor and accounted for 20% of the variance in physical health and for 18.8% of the variance in mental health. Implications of this paper: Nurses should understand the importance of health literacy, which is a key factor to improve QOL for survivors with breast cancer. Nurses should develop individualized care plans for survivors based on different levels of health literacy to improve the efficiency of the nurse–patient dialogue.