Health literacy policy-making regarding children and adolescents. (13th November 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Okan, O; Sørensen, K; Bauer, U
• Is Part Of: European journal of public health. Volume 29(2019)Supplement 4
• Publication Date: 2019-11-13
• Subjects: Epidemiology -- Europe -- Periodicals; Public health -- Europe -- Periodicals; 362.109405
• DOI: 10.1093/eurpub/ckz185.554
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1101-1262

Abstract

Abstract: Background: There is an on-going and a well observable uptake of health literacy in the national and international agenda setting pertaining the development of new policy strategies to address the issue of promoting health literacy in whole societies. Even though children have been declared to be a priority target, no research is available that has analysed if and how children are addressed by these policy approaches. Therefore, the aim of this research is to analyse those policies on how they address children. Methods: Policy documents on national levels that have been published by February 2019 were retrieved by using a two-pronged strategy comprising of (1) systematic review methods (database and online search) and (2) expert consultation. Results: The search has identified 26 policies for 19 countries including case-laws and enacted statues, governmental strategies, polices driven by national key experts, and educational policies. No policies on children's health literacy were found for South America and Africa. The policies differ in many ways, such as their embedding into general health policy making, policy and implementation processes, rationality and networks, and influence of governance. Children are either addressed by (1) specific programmes, (2) school health approaches, (3) their parents, (4) healthcare action, or (5) using a combination of those areas. However, there is almost no evaluation data available nor are these policies underpinned by health literacy evidence generated within the children`s population. Most policies are designed for adult populations rather than children. Conclusions: Health literacy has developed into an important health policy-making target. While almost all policies address children somehow, several limitations make it difficult to evaluate the quality of the different policies. To secure and sustain more effective, child-focused policies, current knowledge gaps regarding research on children`s health literacy should be addressed.