The association between health literacy, social support and self-efficacy in mothers of preterm neonates.

Background: Health literacy, social support and self-efficacy are important concepts in mothers of preterm neonates. The purpose of study was to determine the association between health literacy, social support and self-efficacy of mothers of preterm neonates admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit.

Methods: This descriptive correlational study was conducted from November 2017 to January 2019 on 200 mothers of preterm neonates admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit of selected hospitals affiliated with Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Data were collected using demographic, maternal health literacy, maternal self-efficacy and multidimensional scale of perceived social support questionnaires. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential tests (Pearson correlation coefficient) using SPSS-PC (v.23) and R software.

Results: The data showed 23.5% of mothers had high likelihood of low health literacy, 45.5% had possibility of low health literacy and 31% had adequate with mean score 2.57 ± 1.28. Also, 9.5% of participants had low perceived social support, 62.5% moderate perceived social support and 28% high perceived social support. Maternal self-efficacy score was 52.54 ± 8.06. Pearson's correlation coefficient analyses revealed a statistically significant positive correlation between maternal health literacy and social support ( = 0.304,  < .001). Also maternal health literacy was positively correlated with the self-efficacy ( = 0.292,  < .001) and self-efficacy was positively correlated with social support ( = 0.440,  < .001).

Conclusion: Health literacy, social support and self-efficacy of mothers of preterm neonates admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit in Iran are related together. Therefore, neonatal care nurses need to note this in care of this clients and adopt strategies to enhance them.