Determination of the relationship between parents' health literacy and fever management of their children: A cross-sectional study.
Dilek Menekşe, Öznur Tiryaki, Nursan Çınar
PMID 38887109WHAT IT FOUND
Parents with higher health literacy reported more fever management practices, but 10.7% had insufficient and 40.9% problematic-limited literacy.
Nurses can check understanding and discuss safe fever care.
Key findings
01Parents' health literacy score and fever management practice score had a statistically significant positive correlation (r = .287; p = .000).
02Parent fever anxiety score correlated positively with fever management practice score (r = .345; p = .000) and not with health literacy score (r = -.004; p = .955).
03Reported fever practices included wiping with vinegar water in 10.7% and wiping with alcoholic water in 0.4% of parents.
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What it does not show
This is a cross-sectional survey, so it shows association only and cannot prove that health literacy causes the observed fever management score. All measures were self-reported by parents, and the study was single-centre in Turkey, so results may not generalise. The health literacy scale measured general health literacy, not fever-specific literacy. The fever management scale scored more frequent practices as higher, and the paper states this can also represent parental burden, so a high score may not mean safe care. Parents of children with convulsions and healthcare professionals were excluded, so the study does not address those groups.
Declared interests
The research received no specific funding, and the authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the correlations as evidence that health literacy training improves fever management. This was a self-report cross-sectional study, and a higher fever management score may reflect more frequent or burdensome practices rather than safe care.