The Relationship of Mental Health Literacy (MHL) with Psychological Status in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus - Pulmonary Tuberculosis at the Gorontalo City Health Center

Sri Melinda Hippy (Program Studi Ilmu Keperawatan, Fakultas Olahraga Dan Kesehatan, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo)
Zainuddin (Program Studi Ilmu Keperawatan, Fakultas Olahraga Dan Kesehatan, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo)
Rachmawaty D. Hunawa (Program Studi Ilmu Keperawatan, Fakultas Olahraga Dan Kesehatan, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo)

International Journal of Health, Economics, and Social Sciences (IJHESS)
Vol. 8 No. 3: 2026

Background: Diabetes Mellitus (DM) and Pulmonary Tuberculosis (Pulmonary TB) are two interrelated chronic diseases that can cause various psychological problems in sufferers. Pulmonary DM-TB patients are at risk of experiencing stress, anxiety, and depression that have an impact on psychological status. One of the factors that is suspected to play a role in this condition is Mental Health Literacy (MHL), which is an individual's ability to understand, recognize, and manage mental health problems. Objective: This study aims to determine the relationship between Mental Health Literacy and psychological status in patients with Diabetes Mellitus–Pulmonary Tuberculosis at the Gorontalo City Health Center. Methods: This study used a quantitative design with a cross-sectional approach. The research population amounted to 75 patients with Pulmonary DM-TB registered in six health centers in the Gorontalo City area. A sample of 63 respondents was selected using the purposive sampling technique. Data were collected using the Mental Health Literacy and psychological status questionnaire, then analyzed using the Chi-Square test with a significance level of 0.05. Results: The results showed that most of the respondents had high Mental Health Literacy as many as 41 respondents (65.1%), while 22 respondents (34.9%) had low Mental Health Literacy. The psychological status of respondents was dominated by the severe distress category of 37 respondents (58.7%) and mild distress as many as 26 respondents (41.3%). The results of the Chi-Square test showed a p-value of 0.006 (p < 0.05), which means that there is a significant relationship between Mental Health Literacy and psychological status in patients with Pulmonary DM-TB. Conclusion: There is a significant relationship between Mental Health Literacy and psychological status in Diabetes Mellitus–Pulmonary Tuberculosis patients at the Gorontalo City Health Center. The better the level of Mental Health Literacy that a patient has, the better their ability to manage psychological conditions during the treatment of chronic diseases.