The Effect of the Educational Plan Prepared According to the Health Literacy Levels of Patients

The reasons such as the advanced age of most patients with Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA), the presence of concomitant diseases, and bilateral prostheses cause a decrease in the quality of life by negatively affecting the healing processes of the patients. Patients who try to adapt to the problems experienced during postoperative recovery need the information to develop coping behaviors. Nurses play a crucial role in ensuring adequate and effective access of information to the patient during this challenging process, which significantly affects mobility and, consequently, life activities. Effective educational interventions to be implemented by nurses enable patients to make decisions about health problems and act to improve their quality of life. However, for patient education to be efficient, the information given must be easy to read, understandable, and suitable for various learning styles to cope with problems more effectively. Still, individuals with low health literacy have problems benefiting from all services provided, exceptionally patient education, at the desired level.

Patients with TKA face many problems in the early postoperative period and home processes after discharge. In this process, the instruction that will be given by nurses as a part of the care is critical. Patient education will contribute to less stress for patients, effective participation in their care, and more minor problems in the recovery process at home after discharge and increase positive patient outcomes. However, for the teaching to be effective, nurses must first determine the health literacy levels of individuals. When initiatives are planned following the level of health literacy, it is thought that individuals' adaptation to the duration of their health will increase, the process will progress effectively, the recovery will be positively affected, and the quality of life will increase. Accordingly, this study was conducted to examine the effect of the curriculum prepared according to patients' health literacy levels with TKA on the healing process and quality of life.

Research hypotheses:

H1a- Patient education, which is planned according to health literacy levels, positively affects patients' quality of life.

H1b- Patient education, which is planned according to health literacy levels, reduces patients' problems on the 15th day after surgery.

H1c- Patient education, which is planned according to health literacy levels, reduces patients' problems in the 6th week after surgery.

H1d- Patient education, which is planned according to health literacy levels, affects the postoperative improvement in functional status in patients.

Study Design: A control group intervention research. Method: 102 patients, 51 experimental groups, and 51 control groups participated in the study. The sample was chosen randomly from the universe by the researcher. From the patients hospitalized in the clinic and matching the research criteria, the control group was determined by random method according to the order of the patients, and their data were collected. Then, the intervention group data were obtained, paying attention to the similarity of the groups in terms of education, age, and gender. In the study, the education plan prepared in line with the control group data was applied to the intervention group, and its effects on the healing processes were observed.

Data were collected with Patient Introduction, Patient Learning Requirements, Functional Evaluation, Turkey Health Literacy, Discharge Data Collection, Post-Discharge 15th and Sixth Week Recovery Process Data Collection, Quality of Life Forms.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* Patients over 18 years
* Patients who had undergone total knee arthroplasty surgery for the first time
* Patients who did not have a history of psychiatric problems
* Patients who were literate
* Patients who agreed to participate for the study

Exclusion Criteria:

* Patients not over 18 years
* Patients who hadn't undergone total knee arthroplasty surgery for the first time
* Patients who had a history of psychiatric problems
* Patients who weren't literate
* Patients who didn' t agree to participate for the study