Home and school responsibilities for children’s health literacy development: the views of Finnish and Russian parents and teachers

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjorita Sormunen ◽  
Svetlana Goranskaya ◽  
Valentina Kirilina ◽  
Kirsi Bykachev ◽  
Kerttu Tossavainen
Keyword(s):  
Health Literacy ◽  
Literacy Development ◽  
Children's Health ◽  
Children’S Health ◽  
Home And School

scholarly journals What Do Childcare Providers Know about Environmental Influences on Children’s Health? Implications for Environmental Health Literacy Efforts

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 5489
Author(s):  
Brenda D. Koester ◽  
Stephanie Sloane ◽  
Elinor M. Fujimoto ◽  
Barbara H. Fiese ◽  
Leona Yi-Fan Su
Keyword(s):  
Health Literacy ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
The United States ◽  
Children's Health ◽  
Children’S Health ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Environmental Health Literacy ◽  
Childcare Providers

Children are uniquely vulnerable to toxicant exposures in their environment, which can have long-lasting impacts on their health. Childcare providers are an important population to target for environmental health literacy, as most children in the United States under five years of age spend a significant number of waking hours in non-parental care. There is an increasing body of evidence that children are exposed to toxicants in the childcare environment, and yet little is known about what childcare providers know about environmental influences on the health of children in their care. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 36 home- and center-based Illinois childcare providers to better understand their knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors as they relate to environmental influences on children’s health. We found that the majority of providers had a low level of understanding of potential sources of exposure in the childcare environment, and they did not feel that environmental exposures posed a significant risk to children. Future efforts to increase environmental health literacy should focus on raising awareness and knowledge of environmental health issues for childcare providers before addressing ways that providers can reduce or prevent toxicant exposures to children in their care.

Defining Taiwanese children’s health literacy abilities from a health promotion perspective

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 69-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li-Ling Liao ◽  
Chieh-Hsing Liu ◽  
Chi-Chia Cheng ◽  
Tzu-Chau Chang
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Health Education ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Operational Definition ◽  
Children's Health ◽  
Functional Health ◽  
Children’S Health ◽  
Measurement Tool

Background: Health literacy is related to health inequality, health behaviors, and health status. Globally, health literacy has primarily focused on adults and has been based on the medical model. It is necessary to understand children’s life experiences as they relate to health; thus, this study attempted to evaluate and describe the health literacy abilities of sixth-graders in Taiwan. Methods: Interviews were conducted with 10 teachers and 11 caregivers, and focus groups were conducted with 32 children. Health literacy abilities corresponding to real-life situations were identified from life skills and the Taiwanese Curriculum Guidelines for health education. Three expert meetings were held to redefine children’s health literacy using a health promotion perspective and confirmed indicators. Results: An operational definition of three aspects of children’s health literacy and 25 abilities was proposed: 11 functional health literacy abilities (e.g. understands the connection between personal health care behaviors and health); seven interactive health literacy abilities (e.g. obtains and understands information from various channels); and seven critical health literacy abilities (e.g. analyzes the relationship between personal needs and diet choices for a balanced diet). These indicators cover 10 health education categories. Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of understanding Taiwanese children’s health literacy, and the urgency of developing an appropriate measurement tool. The definition and indicators in this study were identified using a child-centered approach focusing on children’s real-life experiences. The result serves as a solid basis for the development of the Taiwan Children’s Health Literacy Scale, and provides information for the decision-making sector on health education.

scholarly journals Selecting Fiction Books for a Children's Health Collection by M. Tan & S. Campbell

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Tan ◽  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Health Literacy ◽  
Selection Criteria ◽  
English Language ◽  
Children's Health ◽  
Health Conditions ◽  
Children’S Health ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Selection Of

Books have long been recognized  resources for health literacy and healing (Fosson & Husband, 1984). Individuals with health conditions or disabilities or who are dealing with illness, disability or death among friends or loved ones, can find solace and affirmation in fictional works that depict characters coping with similar health conditions. This study asked the question “If we were to select a new collection of children’s health-related fiction in mid-2014, which books would we select and what selection criteria would we apply?”  The results of this study are a set of criteria for the selection of  current English language literary works with health-related content for the pre-kindergarten to Grade 6 (age 12) audience http://hdl.handle.net/10402/era.38842, a collection of books that are readily available to Canadian libraries - selected against these criteria http://hdl.handle.net/10402/era.38843, a special issue of the Deakin Review of Children’s Literature -  dedicated to juvenile health fiction, and book exhibits in two libraries to accompany the Deakin Review issue.

scholarly journals Making health information meaningful: Children's health literacy practices

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 476-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Fairbrother ◽  
Penny Curtis ◽  
Elizabeth Goyder
Keyword(s):  
Health Literacy ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Literacy Practices ◽  
Children's Health ◽  
Children’S Health

Development and validation of the Taiwan Children’s Health Literacy Test

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 34-46
Author(s):  
Chieh-Hsing Liu ◽  
Li-Ling Liao ◽  
Chi-Chia J. Cheng ◽  
Tzu-Chau Chang
Keyword(s):  
Health Literacy ◽  
Correlation Coefficients ◽  
Sixth Grade ◽  
Sixth Graders ◽  
Children's Health ◽  
Children’S Health ◽  
Difficulty Level ◽  
Item Response Theory Analysis ◽  
Average Proportion ◽  
Literacy Test

Background: Currently, health literacy (HL) worldwide is measured primarily among adults from a medical perspective. A children’s HL test from a health promotion perspective is needed. This study develops the Taiwan Children’s Health Literacy Test (TCHL) targeted at Taiwanese sixth-graders. Methods: HL indicators were identified through interviews of sixth-grade teachers, primary caregivers, and sixth-graders. They were used to develop a 25-item online test, which was finalized after pretesting and administered to a stratified random sample of 671 students across 29 sixth-grade classes. Results: The response rate was 87.2% (585 participants). Cronbach’s α was 0.60–0.78 for the HL subtests and 0.79 for the overall HL test. Correlation coefficients among subtests ranged from 0.49 to 0.87. The average proportion correct was 0.80 for overall HL. In item response theory analysis, the difficulty level ranged from −2.77 to −0.40, while the degree of discrimination was 0.44–2.65. Item information peaked when the ability value was approximately −1.8. Furthermore, HL scores had a significant positive correlation with health behaviors. Conclusions: Overall, the test was found to be reliable and valid, with a low level of difficulty for basic HL ability. The present results can be used as a reference by government health education units to investigate national HL in children.

scholarly journals Protocol for a Trial Assessing the Impacts of School-Based WaSH Interventions on Children’s Health Literacy, Handwashing, and Nutrition Status in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 226
Author(s):  
Stephanie O. Sangalang ◽  
Shelley Anne J. Medina ◽  
Zheina J. Ottong ◽  
Allen Lemuel G. Lemence ◽  
Donrey Totanes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Literacy ◽  
Children's Health ◽  
Physical Growth ◽  
Children’S Health ◽  
Nutrition Status ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
School Based ◽  
The University ◽  
Low And Middle Income

Diarrhea, soil-transmitted helminth infection and malnutrition are leading causes of child mortality in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). To reduce the prevalence of these diseases, effective interventions for adequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WaSH) should be implemented. This paper describes the design of a cluster-randomized controlled trial that will compare the efficacy of four school-based WaSH interventions for improving children’s health literacy, handwashing, and nutrition. Interventions consisted of (1) WaSH policy reinforcement; (2) low-, medium-, or high-volume health education; (3) hygiene supplies; and (4) WaSH facilities (e.g., toilets, urinals, handwashing basins) improvements. We randomly allocated school clusters from the intervention arm to one of four groups to compare with schools from the control arm. Primary outcomes were: children’s health literacy, physical growth, nutrition status, and handwashing prevalence. Secondary outcomes were: children’s self-reported health status and history of extreme hunger, satisfaction with WaSH facilities, and school restrooms’ WaSH adequacy. We will measure differences in pre- and post-intervention outcomes and compare these differences between control and intervention arms. This research protocol can be a blueprint for future school-based WaSH intervention studies to be conducted in LMICs. Study protocols were approved by the ethics committees of the University of Bonn, Germany, and the University of the Philippines Manila. This trial was retroactively registered, ID number: DRKS00021623.

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