Health Literacy LevelNCT06949345
Health & Digital Literacy and Complementary Medicine Attitudes in Rehabilitation Patients
An observational study of Health Literacy Level and Digital Health Literacy, run by Karabuk University at 1 site in Turkey (Türkiye).
Trial summary
This observational study aims to evaluate the relationship between health and digital health literacy and attitudes toward complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in patients visiting a physical medicine and rehabilitation outpatient clinic. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 to 65 years
- Conditions the study is for
- Health Literacy Level, Digital Health Literacy, Complementary and Alternative Therapies
- How many people
- 211 participants
- Where
- 1 siteTurkey (Türkiye)
- Study dates
- 1 May 2025to 10 Jul 2025
- Phase
- Observational
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 to 65 years
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Adult, Older adult
Study population: Adult patients aged 18 to 65 years who are literate and voluntarily applying to the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation outpatient clinic of Karabük Training and Research Hospital. Participants must be able to provide informed consent and complete the required questionnaires.
Who may be able to join
- being aged 18-65
- being literate
- Volunteering to participate
Who cannot join
- Patients who are unwilling or unable to cooperate
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
Turkey (Türkiye)1 site
Karabuk Education and Research Hospital
Karabük, Karabük Province, 78050
About this study
Official title: Health Literacy in Relation to Attitudes Towards Traditional and Complementary Medicine Among Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Patients.
This observational study aims to evaluate the relationship between health and digital health literacy and attitudes toward complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in patients visiting a physical medicine and rehabilitation outpatient clinic. Low health literacy may lead patients to try potentially unsafe herbal products influenced by commercial or social media sources. This study highlights the importance of understanding patients' attitudes toward such methods and aims to contribute to the development of educational efforts to improve health literacy. Increasing patients' awareness can support better decision-making, enhance rehabilitation outcomes, and promote the use of evidence-based practices in physical medicine clinics..
Read the detailed description
This observational, cross-sectional clinical study will be conducted in the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation outpatient clinic of Karabük Training and Research Hospital. The target population includes at least 200 volunteer patients aged between 18 and 65 years. The primary objective is to evaluate the level of general and digital health literacy and the attitudes toward complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), and to investigate the relationship between these variables.
Participants will be recruited consecutively from the outpatient clinic. Inclusion criteria consist of being aged 18-65, literate, and volunteering to participate. Individuals who are unwilling or unable to cooperate, or who have cognitive or psychiatric impairments that may hinder questionnaire completion, will be excluded from the study.
Data will be collected through self-administered or interviewer-assisted questionnaires. The tools to be used are:
A structured sociodemographic data form (age, gender, education level, marital status, etc.),
Health Literacy Index (25 items), assessing general health literacy,
Digital Health Literacy Instrument (DHLI) (18 items, 6 subscales), evaluating digital health-related skills,
Complementary and Alternative Medicine Attitude Scale (CAMAS) (27 items, 3 subscales), measuring participants' attitudes toward CAM.
Data will be analyzed using IBM SPSS software. Normality of data distribution will be assessed with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Depending on data characteristics, appropriate statistical tests such as Pearson or Spearman correlation, independent sample t-tests, and ANOVA will be applied. The study will also compare health and digital health literacy levels and CAM attitudes across different sociodemographic and clinical variables.
Findings from this study are expected to highlight gaps in patient knowledge and perceptions regarding CAM and digital health, potentially informing future educational strategies and supporting evidence-based clinical decision-making in rehabilitation settings.
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Patients of a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinic | Not described |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Complementary, Alternative, Conventional Medicine Attitude Scale (CACMAS)
The CACMAS is a 27-item scale with three subscales: attitudes toward complementary, alternative, and conventional medicine.The scale uses a 7-point Likert-type rating system, with responses ranging from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 7 (Strongly Agree).
Total Score Range: 27 to 189 Interpretation: Higher scores indicate a more positive attitude toward the use of CAM and conventional medical practices.
Measured: Baseline
Digital Health Literacy Instrument
The scale consists of 18 items across 6 dimensions: Information Seeking, Evaluation of Reliability, Determining Interest Level, Content Addition, Navigation Skills, and Privacy Protection. Participants rated their experiences on a 4-point Likert scale (1 = Very difficult, 2 = Difficult, 3 = Easy, 4 = Very easy) for the subdimensions of Information Seeking, Evaluation of Reliability, Determining Interest Level, and Content Addition. For Navigation Skills and Privacy Protection, a reverse-coded 4-point Likert scale was used (1 = Never, 2 = Occasionally, 3 = Rarely, 4 = Frequently). The overall and subscale scores ranged from 1 to 4, with scores below 2 indicating low digital health literacy, scores between 2 and 3 indicating moderate digital health literacy, and scores above 3 indicating high digital health literacy.
Measured: Baseline
Health Literacy Scale
The HLS-25 is a 25-item instrument adapted into Turkish by Aras and Temel (2017) based on the simplified version of the Health Literacy Survey in Europe (HLS-EU). It consists of four subscales: accessing information (5 items, score range: 5-25), understanding information (7 items, range: 7-35), appraising information (8 items, range: 8-40), and applying information (5 items, range: 5-25).
Total Score Range: 25 to 125 Interpretation: Higher scores indicate better health literacy. All items are scored on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = cannot do at all to 5 = no difficulty). There are no reverse-coded items. Lower scores reflect inadequate or problematic health literacy.
Measured: Baseline
Secondary outcomes (1)
Personal information form
Measured: Baseline
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted29 Apr 2025
- Study start1 May 2025
- Primary completion10 Jul 2025
- Study completion10 Jul 2025
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (2)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for Health Literacy LevelStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Observational
- Observational model
- Case-control
- Time perspective
- Cross-sectional
- Enrolment
- 211 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Karabuk University
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, METEHAN YANA, Karabuk University
- Investigators
- Metehan Yana, Study chair, Karabuk University
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06949345
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- health literacy and CAM
- Status last verified
- Apr 2025
- First submitted
- 22 Apr 2025
- Last updated
- 22 Jul 2025
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No
Publications
Unal Toprak F, Coskun Palaz S, Caglar S. The impact of health literacy levels on women's fear of contracting Covid-19 and their attitudes toward holistic complementary and alternative medicine: Mediation analysis results. Health Care Women Int. 2023 Jul-Sep;44(7-8):869-884. doi: 10.1080/07399332.2022.2070623. Epub 2022 May 26.
PubMed 35616392Okawa Y, Ideguchi N, Yamashita H. Relationship between health literacy and attitudes toward acupuncture: A web-based cross-sectional survey with a panel of Japanese residents. PLoS One. 2023 Oct 20;18(10):e0292729. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0292729. eCollection 2023.
PubMed 37862311
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 22 Jul 2025. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Health Literacy in Relation to Attitudes Towards Traditional and Complementary Medicine Among Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Patients.
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06949345
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- health literacy and CAM
- Study type
- Observational
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 211 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- Karabuk UniversityUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 1 May 2025 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 10 Jul 2025 (actual)
- Study completion
- 10 Jul 2025 (actual)
- First posted
- 29 Apr 2025 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
This observational study aims to evaluate the relationship between health and digital health literacy and attitudes toward complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in patients visiting a physical medicine and rehabilitation outpatient clinic. Low health literacy may lead patients to try potentially unsafe herbal products influenced by commercial or social media sources. This study highlights the importance of understanding patients' attitudes toward such methods and aims to contribute to the development of educational efforts to improve health literacy. Increasing patients' awareness can support better decision-making, enhance rehabilitation outcomes, and promote the use of evidence-based practices in physical medicine clinics..
Detailed description
This observational, cross-sectional clinical study will be conducted in the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation outpatient clinic of Karabük Training and Research Hospital. The target population includes at least 200 volunteer patients aged between 18 and 65 years. The primary objective is to evaluate the level of general and digital health literacy and the attitudes toward complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), and to investigate the relationship between these variables.
Participants will be recruited consecutively from the outpatient clinic. Inclusion criteria consist of being aged 18-65, literate, and volunteering to participate. Individuals who are unwilling or unable to cooperate, or who have cognitive or psychiatric impairments that may hinder questionnaire completion, will be excluded from the study.
Data will be collected through self-administered or interviewer-assisted questionnaires. The tools to be used are:
A structured sociodemographic data form (age, gender, education level, marital status, etc.),
Health Literacy Index (25 items), assessing general health literacy,
Digital Health Literacy Instrument (DHLI) (18 items, 6 subscales), evaluating digital health-related skills,
Complementary and Alternative Medicine Attitude Scale (CAMAS) (27 items, 3 subscales), measuring participants' attitudes toward CAM.
Data will be analyzed using IBM SPSS software. Normality of data distribution will be assessed with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Depending on data characteristics, appropriate statistical tests such as Pearson or Spearman correlation, independent sample t-tests, and ANOVA will be applied. The study will also compare health and digital health literacy levels and CAM attitudes across different sociodemographic and clinical variables.
Findings from this study are expected to highlight gaps in patient knowledge and perceptions regarding CAM and digital health, potentially informing future educational strategies and supporting evidence-based clinical decision-making in rehabilitation settings.
Study design
- Observational model
- Case-control
- Time perspective
- Cross-sectional
- Number of arms
- 1
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Patients of a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinic | – | – |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 to 65 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
- Study population
- Adult patients aged 18 to 65 years who are literate and voluntarily applying to the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation outpatient clinic of Karabük Training and Research Hospital. Participants must be able to provide informed consent and complete the required questionnaires.
Key inclusion criteria (3 listed)
- being aged 18-65
- being literate
- Volunteering to participate
Key exclusion criteria (1 listed)
- Patients who are unwilling or unable to cooperate
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Primary outcome
Complementary, Alternative, Conventional Medicine Attitude Scale (CACMAS)
Time frame: Baseline
The CACMAS is a 27-item scale with three subscales: attitudes toward complementary, alternative, and conventional medicine.The scale uses a 7-point Likert-type rating system, with responses ranging from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 7 (Strongly Agree). Total Score Range: 27 to 189 Interpretation: Higher scores indicate a more positive attitude toward the use of CAM and conventional medical practices.
Digital Health Literacy Instrument
Time frame: Baseline
The scale consists of 18 items across 6 dimensions: Information Seeking, Evaluation of Reliability, Determining Interest Level, Content Addition, Navigation Skills, and Privacy Protection. Participants rated their experiences on a 4-point Likert scale (1 = Very difficult, 2 = Difficult, 3 = Easy, 4 = Very easy) for the subdimensions of Information Seeking, Evaluation of Reliability, Determining Interest Level, and Content Addition. For Navigation Skills and Privacy Protection, a reverse-coded 4-point Likert scale was used (1 = Never, 2 = Occasionally, 3 = Rarely, 4 = Frequently). The overall and subscale scores ranged from 1 to 4, with scores below 2 indicating low digital health literacy, scores between 2 and 3 indicating moderate digital health literacy, and scores above 3 indicating high digital health literacy.
Health Literacy Scale
Time frame: Baseline
The HLS-25 is a 25-item instrument adapted into Turkish by Aras and Temel (2017) based on the simplified version of the Health Literacy Survey in Europe (HLS-EU). It consists of four subscales: accessing information (5 items, score range: 5-25), understanding information (7 items, range: 7-35), appraising information (8 items, range: 8-40), and applying information (5 items, range: 5-25). Total Score Range: 25 to 125 Interpretation: Higher scores indicate better health literacy. All items are scored on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = cannot do at all to 5 = no difficulty). There are no reverse-coded items. Lower scores reflect inadequate or problematic health literacy.
1 secondary outcome
Personal information form
Time frame: Baseline
Results and safety
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 22 Jul 2025.
- Background: PubMed 35616392Unal Toprak F, Coskun Palaz S, Caglar S. The impact of health literacy levels on women's fear of contracting Covid-19 and their attitudes toward holistic complementary and alternative medicine: Mediation analysis results. Health Care Women Int. 2023 Jul-Sep;44(7-8):869-884. doi: 10.1080/07399332.2022.2070623. Epub 2022 May 26.
- Background: PubMed 37862311Okawa Y, Ideguchi N, Yamashita H. Relationship between health literacy and attitudes toward acupuncture: A web-based cross-sectional survey with a panel of Japanese residents. PLoS One. 2023 Oct 20;18(10):e0292729. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0292729. eCollection 2023.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Metehan Yana study chair
Karabuk University
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
An observational study of Health Literacy Level and Digital Health Literacy, run by Karabuk University at 1 site in Turkey (Türkiye).
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 3 inclusion and 1 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 22 Jul 2025. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in Turkey (Türkiye). Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Complementary, Alternative, Conventional Medicine Attitude Scale (CACMAS) (time frame: Baseline). The study lists 3 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT06949345, which also lists 2 linked publications.
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 22 Jul 2025.