Critical Health-literacy of Working-age Indonesians living with Early-stage Chronic Kidney Disease: A Cross-sectional Study

Background and Objectives: Working-age living with chronic kidney disease requires a sufficient level of health-literacy to enable them to sustain their productivity and manage the progressivity of their disease. However, the paucity continues in terms of critical health-literacy.  This study aims to examine health-literacy of working-age living with early-stage chronic kidney disease (CKD). Materials and Methods: A total of ۲۲۶ working-age living with early-stage CKD was recruited from ۶۳ Public Health Centres in the second biggest city of Indonesia. The Mandarin Multidimensional Health Literacy Questionnaire (MMHLQ) was used to measure the level of health literacy. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed to analyse data. This study adhered to the EQUATOR checklist, STROBE.Results: An average age of the participants was ۵۶.۶۱ years (standard deviation [SD] = ۷.۴۸), whereas the estimated glomerular filtration rate was ۶۳.۴۵ mL/min/۱.۷۳ m۲ (SD = ۱۵.۳۴). A cut point of high health-literacy is above ۳۴.۰۰.  This study found out of ۱۰ individuals, six (۶۱.۹۵%) reported low levels of health-literacy with an average level of ۳۲.۱۱ (SD = ۴.۴۶). Of five dimensions of health-literacy; obtaining, understanding, evaluating, and applying health information were below the adequate level while communication and interaction exhibited a sufficient level. Conclusion: Factors that influence health-literacy were further characterized by low levels of education and low income. High rates of poor health-literacy among working-age patients with early-stage chronic kidney disease are deemed threatening. The lack of support toward elevating the levels of health-literacy may threaten the severity of the disease and shorten the period of productivity. A group which was characterised by low levels of education and income need to be supported by a simply accessible, understandable, and applicable of health-literacy program. Future studies examine novel factors, such as measuring health-literacy by specific health-literacy instruments and potential impact of multidisciplinary teams on the multifaceted aspects of health-literacy is warranty.

کلیدواژه ها:

chronic kidney disease ، Health-literacy ، health promotion ، Health Risks ، Working-age