en Health Education Health Education Original Research Original Research <span style="font-size:13pt"><span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="text-autospace:none"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="font-style:italic"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">Background: </span></span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">Improper use of antibiotics is one of health care problems that can lead to side effects or antibiotic resistance without benefit. This study aimed to evaluate the association between health literacy and knowledge on appropriate use of antibiotics in a population sample from Tehran.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:13pt"><span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="text-autospace:none"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="font-style:italic"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>Methods:</b> This was a cross-sectional, descriptive-analytic study on adults aged between 18 and 65 years. Health literacy was measured by the Health literacy for Iranian Adults (HELIA: Health Literacy for Iranian Adults) questionnaire, and awareness about proper antibiotic use was evaluated by a checklist designed based on a literature review and expert&rsquo;s opinion in domains of knowledge and attitude. Both an online Google Forms questionnaire and a paper questionnaire completed by outpatients from particular clinics in Tehran&#39;s north, west, or center were used to collect the data. SPSS Version 22 was used to analyze the data.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:13pt"><span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="text-autospace:none"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="font-style:italic"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">&nbsp;&nbsp; Results:</span></span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal"> Out of 359 participants, 59.6% were women, and 66.8% had a university education level. Internet and health care workers were the main sources of health information. The mean score of health literacy was 71.4 out of 100, and 67.4% of the respondents had excellent or sufficient health literacy. The mean antibiotic awareness score was 10.5 out of 13, and the score in the domain of attitude was higher than knowledge. There was a significant relationship between health literacy and awareness about proper antibiotic use (</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt">P</span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal"> < 0.001). Health literacy was significantly higher in women (</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt">P</span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal"> = 0.001), people with higher education levels (</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt">P</span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal"> = 0.001), and financial sufficiency (</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt">P</span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal"> = 0.0038). Also, there was a significant relationship between awareness about proper antibiotic usage and age (</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt">P</span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal"> = 0.007) and financial sufficiency (</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt">P</span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal"> < 0.001) of the respondents. The online questionnaire users were not different in terms of their health literacy, but they were more educated and aware of antibiotics.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:13pt"><span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="text-autospace:none"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="font-style:italic"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>Conclusion:</b> The level of health literacy and awareness about the proper use of antibiotics in this study was good. level of health literacy was closely related to knowledge about the proper use of antibiotics, thus, it seems that promoting health literacy may increase awareness about proper antibiotic use.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> &nbsp; Health Literacy, Antibiotic, Awareness 1027 1033 http://mjiri.iums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-8133-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Mardavij Hamedani mardavij.hamedani@sbmu.ac.ir 200319475328460081060 200319475328460081060 Yes Community and Family Medicine Department, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Soodabeh Hoveidamanesh hoveidamanesh@gmail.com 200319475328460081061 200319475328460081061 No Preventive Medicine and Public Health Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Jalil Koohpayehzadeh jkuhpayeh@yahoo.com 200319475328460081062 200319475328460081062 No Preventive Medicine and Public Health Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Mohsen Arabi drmohsenarabi@gmail.com 200319475328460081063 200319475328460081063 No Preventive Medicine and Public Health Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Farshad Divsalar divsalar.f@iums.ac.ir 200319475328460081064 200319475328460081064 No Department of Infectious Disease, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Firoozgar General Hospital, Tehran, Iran