Health Literacy and Well being of People Living with Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV) in Nasarawa State

Abstract

Health literacy which is people's abilities to access, process, and comprehend health-related information, has been found to have a strong relationship with patients’ wellbeing among complex and chronic diseases such as HIV infection. This study assessed the health literacy domains in relation to age  and health well-being of people living with HIV in Nasarawa State. A quantitative, cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 397 HIV  patients on ART in Nasarawa State. The participants were recruited into the study using a multi-stage sampling technique. Data on socio-demographics,  health literacy and health wellbeing were collected using adopted, modified and validated questionnaire. SPSS version 22 and MINITAB14 were used in  the data analysis. The study revealed that, the general health literacy of the study population was above average, certain domains of health literacy such  as: feeling understood and support by health care providers, ability to actively engage with healthcare provider, and navigating the healthcare system  were significantly associated with age (p< 0.001). Majority (81.6%) of the respondents had minimal health well-being and few health literacy domains such as: actively managing ones’ health, appraisal of ones’ health information, ability to actively engage with healthcare provider and understanding health  information well enough to know what to do were found to be associated with the level of health well-being of the patients (p< 0.001). The study  recommends incorporation of routine family counseling and all HIV socialsupport networks into the routine patients’ care in HIV treatment centers to  gain family acceptability and improve patient’s well-being.