Objectives: To describe anxiety and health literacy among patients following cervical cancer surgery and to analyze associated factors.
Subjects and methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study with analytical components was conducted among 215 cervical cancer patients undergoing surgery at the Department of Gynecologic Surgery, Vietnam National Cancer Hospital, campus 3, from December 2025 to May 2026. Data were collected through direct interviews at the time of patient discharge. Anxiety was assessed using the STAI-S, and health literacy was measured using the HLS-SF12. Data were entered using Epidata software and analyzed with SPSS 20.0 software. Appropriate statistical tests were applied to identify factors associated with anxiety.
Results: The prevalence of anxiety was 68.9%, with moderate anxiety accounting for 45.6% and severe anxiety for 23.3%. Regarding health literacy, most patients had low (52.6%) or very low (29.3%) levels, while only 18.1% demonstrated adequate health literacy. The mean health literacy score was 29.21 ± 7.41. Factors significantly associated with anxiety included residence (OR = 2.03), occupation (OR = 1.86), monthly income (OR = 4.50), disease stage (OR = 6.93), history of previous surgery (OR = 3.07), fertility desire (OR = 3.53), and health literacy (OR = 3.29) (p < 0.05).
Conclusions: Anxiety is highly prevalent among patients following cervical cancer surgery, while health literacy remains limited. Socioeconomic, clinical, and health literacy-related factors are significantly associated with anxiety.