_____________________________________________________________________________________ Akademik Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi, Yıl: 5, Sayı: 39, Ocak 2017, s. 189-199 Yayın Geliş Tarihi / Article Arrival Date Yayınlanma Tarihi / The Publication Date 11.12.2016 20.01.2017 Yrd. Doç. Dr. Sırma Oya TEKVAR Karabük Üniversitesi İşletme Fakültesi sirmatekvar@karabuk.edu.tr DO TURKISH CITIZENS KNOW THEIR BODIES? A SURVEY ABOUT BASIC HEALTH KNOWLEDGE IN KARABÜK Abstract This study focuses on examining elemental health knowledge level of Turkish citi- zens in Karabük. It can be said that environmental conditions, new life styles, in- dustrialization and political problems play role in the development of health issues and problems. The understandability, practicality and sorting the reliable infor- mation out is mostly related to the level of health knowledge and health literacy. Therefore, health literacy is a necessity for every segment of the society because the level of health literacy and patients’ ability for explaining their health problems to the health care providers, hence going through a convenient treatment process, are bound to each other. The research was grounded on two questions related to el- ementary health knowledge: What are the five sense organs? Where are stomach and kidneys in our body? Within this context, a quantitative analysis was conduct- ed by street interviews with Karabük citizens in random sampling. Keywords: Health literacy, health knowledge, health communication, health promotion, street interviews