The Effect of Health Literacy Strategies Training for Nurses on Their Application in Practice: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Document Type : Original article

Authors

1 Ph.D. Student, Department of Health Education and Health Promotion, School of Health, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran Student Research Committee, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Health Education and Health Promotion, School of Health, Social Development and Health Promotion Research Center, Gonabad University of Medical Sciences, Gonabad, Iran.

3 Professor, Department of Health Education and Health Promotion, School of Health, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Social Determinant of Health Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.

4 Master's degree, Department of Health Education and Health Promotion, Student Research Committee, School of Health, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

5 Master's student, Department of Health Education and Health Promotion, Student Research Committee, School of Health, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

6 Master's degree, Department of Health Education and Health Promotion, Student Research Committee, School of Health, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.

7 Associate Professor, Department of Biostatistics, School of Health, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.

8 Social Determinant of Health Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran Assistant Professor, Department of Health Education and Health Promotion, School of Health, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

10.22038/nnj.2025.89031.1496

Abstract

Background and Aims: Nurses play a key role in promoting patients' health, but they do not apply health literacy strategies in practice. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the effect of training nurses in health literacy strategies on their practical implementation of these strategies in 2023.
Materials and Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted in 2023 on nurses from two hospital wards in Mashhad, Iran. One ward was randomly assigned as the intervention group and another as the control group, with all nurses included through census sampling. Both groups completed a researcher-developed questionnaire assessing the application of health literacy strategies before the intervention, immediately, and three months after the intervention. The intervention group then attended two educational sessions based on four health literacy strategies: enhancing verbal communication, improving written communication, strengthening self-management, and empowering individuals while improving support systems. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 27 with Mann–Whitney and Friedman tests.
Results: All participants in this study were female, held a bachelor's degree, and were married. There was no statistically significant difference in the mean functional health literacy between the intervention and control groups before the intervention (p = 0.198), and the effect size at this stage was relatively small (0.277). However, the changes observed immediately after the educational intervention (p<0.001) and three months later (p= 0.001) in the intervention group were statistically significant (p<0.05), with the effect sizes reported as large (0.859) and moderate to high (0.634), respectively.
Conclusion: The results of the study showed that teaching health literacy strategies was effective in improving nurses' health literacy. Therefore, it is recommended for nurses to perform such simple and low-cost interventions.

Keywords

References

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Navid No
Volume 28, Issue 94
September 2025
Pages 23-37

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