Health Literacy of Patients with Breast Cancer: A Qualitative Study

Introduction:  Health literacy is the capacity of individual to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and health services that are necessary for making a good decision. Health literacy is effective in improving the treatment process and reducing healthcare costs. Health literacy is directly connected to humanity. With regard to human complexities and creativity, quantitative evaluation methods are replaced by qualitative methods. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the health literacy of patients with breast cancer. Method: This qualitative study was conducted using qualitative content analysis. In this study, 18 women with breast cancer were selected using purposive sampling method. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and continued until data saturation. Data analysis was performed using Nvivo software. Results: As a result of data analysis, five main themes including channeles, reasons for use, the impact on the life, effective factors on the use, the ability to use and understand health information, and 16 sub-themes were identified. Conclusion: The interviewees know their doctors as the most reliable health information channel. The main reason for using health information is increasing patients' awareness of disease and treatment process. Health literacy is useful in reducing patients' fear and anxiety