Effectiveness of a Structured Health Literacy Education Program on Health Literacy and Self-efficacy in Adolescents

March 14, 2026 updated by: Nurcan Akgül Gündoğdu, Bandırma Onyedi Eylül University

Effectiveness of a Structured Health Literacy Education Program on Health Literacy and Self-efficacy in Adolescents: A Randomized Controlled Trial

This randomized controlled study evaluates the effectiveness of a structured health literacy education program designed for ninth-grade adolescents in a public high school. A total of 102 students were stratified by gender and randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. The intervention group received a six-session health literacy education program delivered in the school setting. The program focused on improving adolescents' ability to access, understand, evaluate, and apply health-related information, as well as strengthening self-efficacy skills. Health literacy and self-efficacy were measured before and after the intervention using validated scales. The study aims to determine whether a structured school-based education program can improve adolescents' health knowledge and self-efficacy levels.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

102

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Turkey (Türkiye)
    • Bandırma
      • Balıkesir, Bandırma, Turkey (Türkiye)
        • Bandirma Onyedi Eylül University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Being a 9th-grade student enrolled in a public high school
  • Aged between 14 and 15 years
  • Providing written informed assent
  • Having parental/guardian consent for participation

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Having difficulties in Turkish literacy
  • Presence of a diagnosed physical or mental condition that could interfere with participation
  • Absence from two or more educational sessions
  • Withdrawal of consent during the study

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Health Literacy Education Program
Participants received a six-session structured health literacy education program delivered weekly in a school setting. The program focused on improving adolescents' ability to access, understand, evaluate, and apply health-related information and aimed to strengthen self-efficacy skills.
Behavioral: Structured Health Literacy Education Program
A six-session school-based education program designed to improve adolescents' health literacy and self-efficacy. The program included interactive sessions focusing on accessing, understanding, evaluating, and applying health-related information.
No Intervention: Control Group
Participants did not receive the structured education program during the study period. After study completion, the program was offered to the control group.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Health Literacy Score
Time Frame: Baseline and immediately after the 6-week intervention.
Health literacy will be measured using the Health Literacy Scale for School-Aged Children (HLSAC) developed by Paakkari et al. The scale consists of 10 items scored on a 4-point Likert scale, with total scores ranging from 10 to 40. Higher scores indicate higher levels of health literacy.
Baseline and immediately after the 6-week intervention.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Self-Efficacy Scale for Children
Time Frame: Baseline and immediately after 6-week intervention
Self-efficacy will be assessed using the Self-Efficacy Scale for Children developed by Muris. The scale includes 21 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale, with total scores ranging from 21 to 105. Higher scores indicate higher levels of self-efficacy.
Baseline and immediately after 6-week intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Bandırma Onyedi Eylül University

Collaborators

The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

January 20, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

January 20, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

September 12, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 23, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 23, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

February 27, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 17, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 14, 2026

Last Verified

February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2022-11

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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