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Ramos-Pla, A.; Selva-Pareja, L.; Mercadé Melé, P.; Espart, A. Scientific Production on Health Literacy and Health Education. Encyclopedia. Available online: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/21932 (accessed on 04 July 2024).
Ramos-Pla A, Selva-Pareja L, Mercadé Melé P, Espart A. Scientific Production on Health Literacy and Health Education. Encyclopedia. Available at: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/21932. Accessed July 04, 2024.
Ramos-Pla, Anabel, Laia Selva-Pareja, Pere Mercadé Melé, Anna Espart. "Scientific Production on Health Literacy and Health Education" Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/21932 (accessed July 04, 2024).
Ramos-Pla, A., Selva-Pareja, L., Mercadé Melé, P., & Espart, A. (2022, April 19). Scientific Production on Health Literacy and Health Education. In Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/21932
Ramos-Pla, Anabel, et al. "Scientific Production on Health Literacy and Health Education." Encyclopedia. Web. 19 April, 2022.
Scientific Production on Health Literacy and Health Education
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This entry is adapted from the peer-reviewed paper 10.3390/ijerph19074356

There has been an emphasis on the importance of health literacy (HL) and health education (HE) as basic tools to empower individuals and the community. The increasing interest in HL and HE has been observed through the evolution of publications and the nature of the main trends in the last few years. Knowing how HL and HE have evolved in scientific publications can help to identify trends and set  priorities in this scope.

health literacy health education

1. Introduction

The origins of the concept of Health Literacy (HL) go back to 1974, when S.K. Simonds associated it with another closely-related concept, Health Education (HE) [1]. Both concepts were defined in the area of school education, and it was not until 1998 that the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted HL as a concept also in the area of public health, defining it as “cognitive and social skills which determine the motivation and ability of individuals to gain access to, understand, and use information in ways which promote and maintain good health” [2]. Posteriorly, the WHO further developed this concept, introducing nuances which defined the objective of HL as “to take action to improve personal and community health by changing personal lifestyles and living conditions” [3]. Starting with this definition, the WHO highlighted that HL is fundamental for the personal, social, and cultural development of individuals, and could therefore have an influence on the health of individuals, in a critical manner for health empowerment. At the same time, HE was defined as the “opportunities for learning involving some form of communication designed to improve HL, including improving knowledge, and developing life skills which are conducive to individual and community health” [4]. In this sense, HE promotes HL, given that it is the education process of the population in general, and that of each individual, which promotes changes towards healthy behaviors [5][6]. Therefore, both concepts are encompassed within the concept of health promotion, with it being a necessity, and at the same time a priority, especially in health and school systems, as a pillar in the maintenance and improvement of health conditions [7][8].
Likewise, delving further into the framework of the European Health Literacy Project, HL also contemplates the competences of individuals in understanding, evaluating and applying health information to maintain and improve the quality of life [9].
The increasing interest in HL and HE has been observed through the evolution of publications and the nature of the main trends in the last few years. Knowing how HL and HE have evolved in scientific publications can help to identify trends and set priorities in the scope.

2. Health Literacy and Its Construction as a Concept

There are three levels in HL: (i) functional: basic competences of reading and writing to act efficiently in a health context; (ii) interactive: cognitive and social skills that allow for active participation in subjects related to health; and (iii) critical: competences associated with the making of decisions starting with a critical analysis and the use of information to participate in health actions [10][11][12]. These three levels articulate the degree of knowledge acquired by each individual as a function of age, culture, and prior knowledge, among others.
Aside from these three levels, there are three dimensions based on a conceptual model with respect to HL, and which must be considered to ensure the correct literacy in this area: attention and care; prevention of diseases, and health promotion. Starting with these three dimensions, it was found four more, which refer to the processing of information, based on the logical model: accessing, understanding, processing, and application of the information received about health subjects [5][6][9][13][14][15]. The Sørensen model combines these two models and creates a new integrated model in which other factors are considered, such as determinants (social and environmental, situational, and personal), or the course of life, so that social, anthropological, and psychological approaches can be established around the concept and application of HL [15].

3. Health Literacy and Its Relevance Today

The interest of the general population and the need to implement real HL in education contexts has increased, given its high impact on health results, in which a greater HL is associated with a better state of health. In this sense, many studies [16][17][18] have stated that a greater HL, along with a greater empowerment, improves the competence of decision-making, and therefore, the individual acquires a more active role in the process. Diverse authors have pointed out that the different health literacy programs or projects, which were mainly conducted in Compulsory Secondary Education, improved the results regarding health knowledge and emotional well-being, and empowered students to seek help when they needed it [19][20][21].
The health crisis due to COVID-19 has further highlighted, if possible, the need for HL through the implementation of HE, given that the general population has had to rapidly learn and apply a set of health measures and protocols to contain the expansion of SARS-CoV-2 [22][23][24].
The evolution of HL and HE concepts has become consolidated in the last few decades. Thus, it is to conduct a quantitative bibliometric one to discover what the advances and changes have been with respect to HL and HE in the last few years. The results obtained will be allowed to identify the trends and priorities in this field, as this method is efficient and effective for quantitatively describing the influence of a subject through time [25][26][27][28].
The number of publications over the last ten years indicates an expanding interest on this topic. Furthermore, the large number of terms closely related with HL and HE, identified in five different clusters, shows the extensive scope that these two concepts have in health. The focus on what issues are relevant, in terms of HL and HE have evolved through the years going form aspects more related to illness, care and adultness, to others more closely to adolescents and children, prevention of mental health issues and even COVID-19. It can be perceived that, due to the challenges experienced in recent years with the COVID-19 pandemic situation, in the coming years, HL and HE will be relevant in mental health. How to act, from the area of HE on vulnerable populations such as adolescents, how to increase knowledge on mental health management, how to modify their beliefs and attitudes or how to reduce the stigma on mental health will be the new challenges to face.
HL and HE are very broad concepts covering many different keywords. Deeper bibliometric analyses are required, in which specific cluster of terms are considered, to learn more about differences in the evolution of scientific production on this field.

References

  1. Simonds, S.K. Health Education as Social Policy. Health Educ. Behav. 1974, 2, 1–10.
  2. World Health Organization. Health Promotion ; WHO: Geneva, Switzerland, 2009; Available online: https://www.who.int/teams/health-promotion/enhanced-wellbeing/seventh-global-conference/health-literacy (accessed on 17 March 2022).
  3. World Health Organization; WHO Regional Office for Europe. Health Literacy ; WHO Regional Office for Europe: Copenhagen, Denmark, 2016; Available online: https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/health-determinants/behavioural-and-cultural-insights-for-health/health-literacy (accessed on 17 March 2022).
  4. Nutbeam, D. Health Promotion Glossary. Health Promot. Int. 1998, 13, 349–364.
  5. De la Guardia, M.A.; Ruvalcaba, J.C. La salud y sus determinantes, promoción de la salud y educación sanitaria. J. Negat. No Posit. Results 2020, 5, 81–90.
  6. Soto, P.; Masalan, P.; Barrios, S. La educación en salud, un elemento central del cuidado de enfermería. Rev. Méd. Clín. Las Condes 2018, 29, 288–300.
  7. Sánchez, J.L.C. Health Literacy and Care: Much more than Health Education. Metas Enferm. 2019, 22, 3–4.
  8. Montesi, M. Alfabetización en salud: Revisión narrativa e interdisciplinar de la literatura publicada en biomedicina y en biblioteconomía y documentación. Rev. Cub. Inf. Cienc. Salud 2017, 28, 1–21.
  9. Sørensen, K.; Pelikan, J.M.; Röthlin, F.; Ganahl, K.; Slonska, Z.; Doyle, G.; Fullam, J.; Kondilis, B.; Agrafiotis, D.; Uiters, E.; et al. Health literacy in Europe: Comparative results of the European health literacy survey (HLS-EU). Eur. J. Public Health 2015, 25, 1053–1058.
  10. Flores, Ò.; Ramos-Pla, A.; del Arco, I. Necessary safety and acceptable risks during breaks and transitions at school. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 4117.
  11. del Arco, I.; Ramos-Pla, A.; Flores, Ò. Analysis of the Company of Adults and the Interactions during School Recess: The COVID-19 Effect at Primary Schools. Sustainability 2021, 13, 10166.
  12. del Arco, I.; Flores, Ò.; Ramos-Pla, A. Structural model to determine the factors that affect the quality of emergency teaching, according to the perception of the student of the first university courses. Sustainability 2021, 13, 2945.
  13. Nolasco, A.; Barona, C.; Tamayo-Fonseca, N.; Irles, M.A.; Más, R.; Tuells, J.; Pereyra-Zamora, P. Alfabetización en salud: Propiedades psicométricas del cuestionario HLS-EU-Q16. Gac. Sanit. 2020, 34, 399–402.
  14. Bas, P.; Fernández, M.; Poza, M.; Pelicano, N. Propuestas de evaluación de la Alfabetización en Salud. Psychol. Lat. 2015, 6, 1–11.
  15. Sørensen, K.; van den Broucke, S.; Fullam, J.; Doyle, G.; Pelikan, J.; Slonska, Z.; Brand, H.; Consortium Health Loteracy Project European. Health literacy and public health: A systematic review and integration of definitions and models. BMC Public Health 2012, 12, 80.
  16. Cabellos-García, A.C.; Castro-Sánchez, E.; Martínez-Sabater, A.; Gea-Caballero, V.A. Influencia de la alfabetización en salud sobre la anticoagulación oral: Un factor aún desconocido. Aten. Primaria 2018, 50, 256–257.
  17. Visccher, B.B.; Steunenberg, B.; Heijmans, M.; Hofstede, J.M.; Devillé, W.; van der Heide, I.; Rademakers, J. Evidence on the effectiveness of health literacy interventions in the EU: A systematic review. BMC Public Health 2018, 18, 1414.
  18. Flecha, A.; Ruiz, L.; Vrecer, N. La alfabetización en salud y el empoderamiento de las comunidades. Diálogo igualitario entre los profesionales de la salud y la comunidad. Scr. Nova Rev. Electrón. Geogr. Y Cienc. Soc. 2013, 427, 1–12.
  19. Casañas, R.; Mas-Expósito, L.; Teixidó, M.; Lalucat-Jo, L. Programas de alfabetización para la promoción de la salud mental en el ámbito escolar. Informe SESPAS 2020. Gac. Sanit. 2002, 34, 39–47.
  20. Mávita-Corral, C.J. Alfabetización en salud de una comunidad universitaria del noroeste de México en el año 2016. Investig. Educ. Méd. 2018, 7, 36–45.
  21. Skopelja, E.N.; Whipple, E.C.; Richwine, P. Reaching and Teaching Teens: Adolescent Health Literacy and the Internet. J. Consum. Health Internet 2008, 12, 105–118.
  22. Lazcano-Ponce, E.; Alpuche-Aranda, C. Alfabetización en salud pública ante la emergencia de la pandemia por COVID-19. Salud Pública México 2020, 63, 331–340.
  23. del Arco, I.; Flores, Ò.; Ramos-Pla, A. Structural model to determine the factors that affect the quality of emergency teaching, according to the perception of the student of the first university courses. Sustainability 2021, 13, 2945.
  24. del Arco, I.; Guitard, L. (Eds.) La Juventud en Época de Confinamiento. La Verdadera Sindemia en Este Sector Poblacional; Dykinson: Madrid, Spain, 2020.
  25. Ellegaard, O.; Wallin, J.A. The bibliometric analysis of scholarly production: How great is the impact? Scientometrics 2015, 105, 1809–1931.
  26. Glanville, J.; Kendrick, T.; McNally, R.; Campbell, J.; Hobbs, F.D. Research output on primary care in Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States: Bibliometric analysis. BMJ (Clin. Res. Ed.) 2011, 342, d1028.
  27. Qiu, Y.; Yang, W.; Wang, Q.; Yan, S.; Li, B.; Zhai, X. Osteoporosis in postmenopausal women in this decade: A bibliometric assessment of current research and future hotspots. Arch. Osteoporos. 2018, 13, 121.
  28. Chen, Y.; Cheng, L.; Lian, R.; Song, Z.; Tian, J. COVID-19 vaccine research focusses on safety, efficacy, immunoinformatics, and vaccine production and delivery: A bibliometric analysis based on VOSviewer. Biosci. Trends 2021, 15, 64–73.
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Subjects: Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Contributors MDPI registered users' name will be linked to their SciProfiles pages. To register with us, please refer to https://encyclopedia.pub/register :
Anabel Ramos-Pla
,
Laia Selva-Pareja
,
PERE MERCADÉ MELÉ
,
Anna Espart
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Revisions: 2 times (View History)
Update Date: 20 Apr 2022
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