Tobacco still a major killer-will we achieve the end game?

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Health Literacy in Context—Settings, Media, and Populations

To date, most published health literacy research has focused on assessing and improving personal skills and abilities. More recently, a better understanding has emerged of the extent to which these skills and abilities are mediated by environmental demands and situational complexities — the context in which health literacy is developed and applied. This has led to much greater attention being given to ways of reducing the situational demands and complexity in which an individual makes a health decision. This collection of papers examines current progress in understanding health literacy "in context", by improving our understanding of the mutual impact of a range of social, economic, environmental, and organisational influences on health literacy. These papers provide unique and original perspectives on the concept, distribution, and application of health literacy in very diverse populations, offering cultural insights and a clear indication of the impact of social and environmental context on health literacy. These perspectives include an examination of differing national policy responses to health literacy illustrating how policy and practice can (and should) respond to this more complete but complex understanding of health literacy. Other papers look at the application of new digital media and the creative harnessing of popular culture as routes to extend the reach and customisation of communications. These papers also illustrate good progress in the evolution of research in the contexts in which health literacy is developed and applied, as well as signaling some areas in which more research would be useful

International Handbook of Health Literacy : Research, practice and policy across the lifespan

Okan O, Bauer U, Levin-Zamir D, Pinheiro P, Sørensen K, eds. International Handbook of Health Literacy : Research, practice and policy across the lifespan. Bristol: Policy Press, University of Bristol; 2019

Measuring children’s health literacy. Current approaches and challenges

Bollweg TM, Okan O. Measuring children’s health literacy. Current approaches and challenges. In: Okan O, Bauer U, Levin-Zamir D, Pinheiro P, Sørensen K, eds. International handbook of health literacy. Research, practice and policy across the life-span. Bristol: Policy Press; 2019: 83-97

Assessing organizational health literacy in hospitals and primary health care services-experiences from the M-POHL project

The WHO-Action Network on Measuring Population and Organizational Health Literacy (M-POHL) initiated in 2022 in cooperation with the Health Promoting Hospitals and Health Literate Health Care Organizations working group a project with two main tasks: (1) to translate, culturally adapt and pilot the “International Self-Assessment Tool for Organizational Health Literacy of Hospitals” in as many countries as possible, an instrument which was developed by the “International Working Group Health Promoting Hospitals and Health Literate Health Care Organizations” in 2019, and (2) to develop a self- assessment tool for organizational health literacy (OHL) in primary health care services, building on existing tools and thereafter translate it into further languages, culturally adapt, and subsequently pilot it in different countries. Many countries in the European region have joined the M-POHL OHL project. The objective of the workshop is to inform on the above-mentioned tools and the study protocol used and to present and discuss national experiences regarding the process and results of translation, cultural adaption, and piloting of the tools with a focus on the feasibility and acceptability of the tools, on possible improvements and suggestions to facilitate a broad uptake of the tools in practice. Key message/Impact: The tools for assessing OHL in hospitals and in primary health care services are designed to support management and staff of hospitals and primary health care services to consider, systematically assess, and improve the health literacy responsiveness of their organization to better serve their patients, their local population, and support to their staff to integrate health literacy in their roles in the healthcare system. The expected impact of the proposed session is to increase the awareness of OHL and disseminate the respective tools that facilitate the assessment of OHL. Workshop participants can benefit from the experiences gained in the M- POHL project

Navigational health literacy

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Study design

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Generic health literacy measurement instruments for children and adolescents:a systematic review of the literature

Background Health literacy is an important health promotion concern and recently children and adolescents have been the focus of increased academic attention. To assess the health literacy of this population, researchers have been focussing on developing instruments to measure their health literacy. Compared to the wider availability of instruments for adults, only a few tools are known for younger age groups. The objective of this study is to systematically review the field of generic child and adolescent health literacy measurement instruments that are currently available. Method A systematic literature search was undertaken in five databases (PubMed, CINAHL, PsycNET, ERIC, and FIS) on articles published between January 1990 and July 2015, addressing children and adolescents ?18 years old. Eligible articles were analysed, data was extracted, and synthesised according to review objectives. Results Fifteen generic health literacy measurement instruments for children and adolescents were identified. All, except two, are self-administered instruments. Seven are objective measures (performance-based tests), seven are subjective measures (self-reporting), and one uses a mixed-method measurement. Most instruments applied a broad and multidimensional understanding of health literacy. The instruments were developed in eight different countries, with most tools originating in the United States (n =?6). Among the instruments, 31 different components related to health literacy were identified. Accordingly, the studies exhibit a variety of implicit or explicit conceptual and operational definitions, and most instruments have been used in schools and other educational contexts. While the youngest age group studied was 7-year-old children within a parent-child study, there is only one instrument specifically designed for primary school children and none for early years. Conclusions Despite the reported paucity of health literacy research involving children and adolescents, an unexpected number of health literacy measurement studies in children?s populations was found. Most instruments tend to measure their own specific understanding of health literacy and not all provide sufficient conceptual information. To advance health literacy instruments, a much more standardised approach is necessary including improved reporting on the development and validation processes. Further research is required to improve health literacy instruments for children and adolescents and to provide knowledge to inform effective interventionspublishersversionPeer reviewe