The Relationship Between Health Literacy and Attitudes Toward Cancer Screening: An Example from the Easternmost Region of Türkiye

Objective: This study aimed to examine the relationship between health literacy and attitudes toward cancer screening and to raise awareness on this issue.Methods: This study was descriptive and correlational in design. The study was conducted with 630 adults aged 30–70 years living in a province located in eastern Türkiye. After excluding incomplete questionnaires, the analyses were conducted with 624 participants. The research data were collected through face-to-face interviews between April 2023 and June 2024 after obtaining the necessary legal permissions. A Descriptive Information Form, the Türkiye Health Literacy Scale (THLS-32), and the Attitudes Toward Cancer Screening Scale were used as data collection tools. The data were analyzed using SPSS 23.0 software; descriptive statistics, correlation analyses, and regression analyses were performed to examine the relationships between variables.Results: The mean health literacy score of the participants was 31.84±10.74, while the mean attitude score toward cancer screening was 89.69±16.82. The scores of the Türkiye Health Literacy Scale (THLS-32) and the Attitudes Toward Cancer Screening Scale differed significantly according to employment status, place of residence, educational level, presence of chronic disease, and previous cancer screening status (P