Health Literacy of Patients from a Screening Service for Breast Cancer of Brazilian Public Health System

Aim: To assess the functional health literacy of Brazilian women assisted by the public system of breast cancer prevention and treatment. Material and Methods: 156 patients, in between 20-59 years old, from a public service located in Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil,were interviewed, regarding age, education and Newest Vital Sign (NVS) application in the translated version into Portuguese. The literacy categories and the percentage of correct questions were faced with education years and age, and performance time of the instrument. Chi-square test and Spearman correlation were used, adopting p <0.05 as significant. The SPSS software, version 20.0, was used as operational tool for these analyzes. Results: Low prevalence of adequate literacy (28.2%) was observed. The average application time of the instrument was 4.7 (1.6) minutes. In relation to percentage of NVS's correct answers, the questions 4 and 5 obtained lower (18.6%) and higher (87.2%) percentage, respectively. There was no association between health literacy, years of education (x² = 2.724; p = 0,099) and age (x² = 0,000; p = 0,992). Conclusion: The high prevalence of inadequate literacy in the evaluated group shows the need to increased involvement of health services in the orientation process, allowing the clientele's empowerment to the self-management of their health. The findings point that the Newest Vital Sign is a fast and easy application instrument, making it, therefore, recommended for use in the routine care of public services from prevention and treatment breast cancer.