THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HEALTH LITERACY AND CERVICAL CANCER PREVENTION BEHAVIOR OF WOMEN AGED 30-59 YEARS IN THE AREA OF PHRAEKSA MAI SUBDISTRICT HEALTH PROMOTING HOSPITAL, SAMUT PRAKAN PROVINCE

Abstract

This study was a descriptive research. The objectives were to study the level of health literacy and cervical cancer prevention behavior and the relationship between health literacy and cervical cancer prevention behavior among women aged 30-59 years in the area of Phraeksa Mai Subdistrict Health Promotion Hospital, Samut Prakan Province. The sample group consisted of 135 people, who were selected by simple random sampling. The research instrument was a questionnaire with a reliability of 0.96 for the whole version, 0.96 for health literacy, and 0.93 for cervical cancer prevention behavior. The basic statistics were analyzed as percentages, means, standard deviations, and correlations using Pearson's product moment correlation coefficient.

The results of the research found that the sample group had a high level of overall health literacy (Mean=4.06, SD=0.58). Considering each aspect, the highest mean score The factors are access to information (Mean = 4.17, SD = 0.69), followed by knowledge and decision-making skills (Mean = 4.12, SD = 0.68), media literacy (Mean = 4.10, SD = 0.59), self-management (Mean = 3.99, SD = 0.74), and communication skills (Mean = 3.89, SD = 0.65), respectively. The behavior to prevent cervical cancer was at a high level (Mean = 4.26, SD = 0.49). It was found that health literacy was positively related to cervical cancer prevention behavior among women aged 30-59 in the area of Phraeksa Mai Subdistrict Health Promotion Hospital, Samut Prakan Province, at a high level (r=0.670, p<0.001) with statistical significance at the 0.01 level.

Therefore, women should be promoted to have health literacy in all aspects, including developing easy-to-understand media, increasing communication channels via social media, organizing training to provide knowledge, using case studies, and promoting self-learning through manuals or online media, supporting cervical cancer screening, developing decision-making skills by providing information on risk factors and prevention methods, and providing opportunities to consult experts, promoting discussions in families and communities, and creating health networks to exchange knowledge. To enable women to continue to have better disease prevention behaviors.