The effect of health literacy on early postoperative recovery of patients undergoing outpatient surgery

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

The measurement of the health literacy level of patients undergoing outpatient surgery has become a major challenge in perioperative nursing of outpatient surgery.

OBJECTIVE:

To analyze the effect of health literacy on early postoperative recovery of patients undergoing outpatient surgery by developing a health literacy assessment tool for this population.

METHODS:

A scale for the assessment of health literacy was established based on Nutbeam’s health literacy model. From April to September 2021, 264 patients were selected in the daytime operating rooms of six Class A tertiary hospitals in Kunming, Yunnan Province to investigate health literacy and early postoperative rehabilitation quality, and the influencing factors of the two variables were analyzed.

RESULTS:

An assessment scale of health literacy of patients undergoing outpatient surgery was developed, including 3 dimensions and 24 items. The Cronbach’s $\alpha$ coefficient of the total scale was 0.944, the split-half reliability was 0.902, and the content validity was 0.920. Exploratory factor analysis showed that the cumulative variance contribution rate was 66.37%, and the scale had good structural validity. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that age, functional health literacy, interactive health literacy, and critical health literacy could explain 60.4% of the variation (adjusted $R^2=$ 0.583) of postoperative recovery quality of patients undergoing outpatient surgery.

CONCLUSION:

Health literacy of patients undergoing outpatient surgery is an important factor that affects the quality of early postoperative recovery. The health literacy assessment scale can assist medical staff in implementing personalized perioperative nursing and health education.