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NCT Number: NCT06949345

Health & Digital Literacy and Complementary Medicine Attitudes in 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..

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Key information

Conditions

Health Literacy Level Complementary and Alternative Therapies Digital Health Literacy

Age range

18 year–65 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Observational

Primary location

Karabuk Education and Research Hospital

Karabük, Karabük Province, 78050, Turkey (Türkiye)

About this study

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.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • being aged 18-65
  • being literate
  • Volunteering to participate

Exclusion criteria

  • Patients who are unwilling or unable to cooperate

Treatment and study plan

Primary outcomes

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Personal information form

    Time frame: Baseline

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Karabuk University

Other

Registry information

Official study title

Health Literacy in Relation to Attitudes Towards Traditional and Complementary Medicine Among Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Patients.

Important dates

Study start
2025
Primary completion
2025
Study completion
2025
First posted
Apr 29, 2025
Registry last updated
Jul 22, 2025

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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