Assessing Health Literacy in Promotion of Self-management Among Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease Attending Kenyatta National Hospital

Abstract

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major health problem with a prevalence of 11 to 14% globally. CKD progresses slowly, causing a reduction in the renal function. The patient needs to adopt effective self-management strategies and therefore should be health literate in his condition. Health literacy plays a big role in influencing access and utilization of basic health information. Despite health literacy being shown to promote self-management, most renal units still focus on generalized health education which may not be appropriate for each patient. Broad objective: To assess the effects of health literacy in promoting self-management practices among patients with chronic kidney disease attending renal unit at Kenyatta National Hospital Methodology: The study adopted Quasi-experimental study design, and purposive sampling method was utilized to identify patients presenting with chronic kidney disease. The study utilized kidney disease knowledge survey tool to assess health literacy while self-management was assessed using the perceived kidney/dialysis self-management scale. The sample population was divided using systematic random sampling. Targeted group education sessions were administered to 30 participants, while other participants received standard healthcare protocol offered at the unit. The two groups were later evaluated to assess the effectiveness of health education sessions. Categorical data was analyzed using percentages and continuous data by getting the mean, and standard deviation. Chi square was used to determine the association between health literacy and self-management while T-test was used to compare the difference between the two populations. Results: The level of health literacy among CKD patients was 70.4%, and the level of self-management was 49%. Association between health literacy and self-management had (F-value = 2.967, with a p ≤ 012) and targeted health education sessions provided to participants had (M =0.83, SD =0.01) T- value of 0.038. Conclusion: The findings of this survey show that the level of health literacy among patients with CKD was high, but the level of self-management was low. There is significant association between health literacy and self-management behaviors among patients with chronic kidney disease, and provision of targeted health education sessions in groups significantly increased the level of health literacy in promotion of self-management.