Patients' health literacy is increasingly recognized as a critical factor affecting health communication and outcomes. We performed this study to assess the levels of health literacy by using Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM) and Newest Vital Sign (NVS) instruments. Patients (n = 456) at a family medicine clinic completed in-person interviews, REALM and NVS tests which were translated into the Turkish language by translation-back translation process. Additional questions regarding demographic characteristics were also collected. The mean scores (mean + or - standard error) for REALM and NVS were 60.29 + or - 0.32 and 2.60 + or - 0.08, respectively. The REALM test scores showed that 2.7% had inadequate (less than or equal to 6th grade), 38.6% marginal (7th to 8th grade) and 58.7% (greater than or equal to 9th grade) adequate health literacy. The NVS test score revealed a proportion of 28.1% had adequate health literacy. Educational attainment was the most important demographic characteristic found to be related to the health literacy. Reading and vocabulary skills were better than numerical capabilities. Female, primary school educated and poor economic condition participants and those who were older had the lowest scores in both the tests.

Different perceptions of menopause among Turkish women are influenced by many factors, including cultural differences, level of education, regular exercise, social factors, and impact of the media. These need to be considered when studying the frequency and characteristics of menopausal problems.

BackgroundResidents are one of the key stakeholders of specialty training. The Turkish Board of Family Medicine wanted to pursue a realistic and structured approach in the design of the specialty training programme. This approach required the development of a needs-based core curriculum built on evidence obtained from residents about their needs for specialty training and their needs in the current infrastructure. The aim of this study was to obtain evidence on residents' opinions and views about Family Medicine specialty training.MethodsThis is a descriptive, cross-sectional study. The board prepared a questionnaire to investigate residents' views about some aspects of the education programme such as duration and content, to assess the residents' learning needs as well as their need for a training infrastructure. The questionnaire was distributed to the Family Medicine Departments (n = 27) and to the coordinators of Family Medicine residency programmes in state hospitals (n = 11) by e-mail and by personal contact.ResultsA total of 191 questionnaires were returned. The female/male ratio was 58.6%/41.4%. Nine state hospitals and 10 university departments participated in the study. The response rate was 29%. Forty-five percent of the participants proposed over three years for the residency duration with either extensions of the standard rotation periods in pediatrics and internal medicine or reductions in general surgery. Residents expressed the need for extra rotations (dermatology 61.8%; otolaryngology 58.6%; radiology 52.4%). Fifty-nine percent of the residents deemed a rotation in a private primary care centre necessary, 62.8% in a state primary care centre with a proposed median duration of three months. Forty-seven percent of the participants advocated subspecialties for Family Medicine, especially geriatrics. The residents were open to new educational methods such as debates, training with models, workshops and e-learning. Participation in courses and congresses was considered necessary. The presence of a department office and the clinical competency of the educators were more favored by state residents.ConclusionsThis study gave the Board the chance to determine the needs of the residents that had not been taken into consideration sufficiently before. The length and the content of the programme will be revised according to the needs of the residents.

The aim of this study was measure the prevalence and influencing factors of depressive mood after delivery. We performed this study on 912 women who gave birth at Maternity Hospital in Bursa/ Turkey. We used Zung's Self-Rating Depression Scale (ZSDS) and a questionnaire in order to obtain the women's backgrounds and the possible risk factor characteristics. The ZSDS and questionnaire were filled out within 1 week after the delivery, by means of face-to-face interviews at the hospital, and 1 month after delivery all the women were visited at their homes and the ZSDS was performed again. In our study, 18% of the mothers (164/912) scored 60 and over in the ZSDS 1 week after childbirth. This percentage had fallen to 9.8% (89/912) 1 month after childbirth. The prevalence of maternity blues in our study was 13.1%. In terms of depression, we found no significant differences regarding age, fertility characteristics, length of labor, residence after childbirth, help after childbirth, breastfeeding practices and the health of the baby. Low educational and economic levels were found to be effective factors in postnatal mood for our population. They may also be risk factors for postnatal depression.

Women's knowledge about "Facts for Life" was at a moderate level. The knowledge level of older women was better than the younger. Some false beliefs still existed. Knowledge about ARI and diarrhoeal diseases in childhood were the least known facts.