Health literacy in relation to attitudes towards traditional and complementary medicine among physical therapy and rehabilitation patients

Health literacy and digital health literacy (DHL) are crucial for enabling patients to make informed decisions, especially in the context of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). This cross-sectional study included 211 patients attending a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation outpatient clinic. Data were collected using the Health Literacy Scale, Digital Health Literacy Instrument (DHLI), and the Complementary, Alternative and Conventional Medicine Attitudes Scale (CACMAS). Descriptive statistics and Spearman correlation analysis were conducted. Participants had moderate levels of health literacy and DHL. Their attitudes toward CAM were generally positive, with the highest scores in the “Holistic Balance” sub-dimension. A weak but significant negative correlation was found between health literacy and holistic CAM attitudes (r=-0.315, p<0.001). DHL was positively associated with dissatisfaction with conventional medicine, particularly in information searching and relevance evaluation (p<0.05). Navigation skills were positively related to philosophical compatibility with CAM but negatively associated with dissatisfaction with CAM. This study highlights that although patients are moderately health literate and digitally literate, those with higher health literacy tend to be less inclined toward a holistic CAM perspective. Conversely, individuals dissatisfied with conventional medicine exhibit higher engagement with digital health content. These findings underscore the importance of targeted education in promoting critical engagement with digital health.