Introduction:Patient education is a fundamental pillar of nursing and a key strategy for health promotion, strengthening both health literacy and self-care. With the rising prevalence of chronic diseases, empowering patients in disease management has become essential. This review study examined the relationship between these three components in nursing care.
Methods: This review was conducted by searching PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, SID, and Magiran using relevant keywords. Relevant Persian and English articles were screened based on inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Findings: Patient education, health literacy, and self-care are three interconnected components in nursing. Effective education is the first step toward improving health literacy, which enhances patients' ability to access, understand, and apply health information, thereby improving self-care. Better self-care is associated with outcomes such as increased treatment adherence, improved disease control, reduced complications and readmissions, and enhanced quality of life. Moreover, modern technologies—including telenursing, health applications, and artificial intelligence—can increase the effectiveness of patient education.
Conclusion: Patient education is among the most vital nursing responsibilities, and health literacy plays a key role in translating education into effective self-care behaviors. Designing patient-centered educational programs tailored to health literacy levels and utilizing modern technologies can improve self-care, health outcomes, and the quality of nursing care.