Educational Strategy in Digital Health Literacy

2022 ◽  
pp. 75-101
Author(s):  
Sandra Cristina Laia Esteves ◽  
Ana Sofia Lourenço Lopes

The acquisition of health literacy levels is preponderant in enabling citizens to access, understand, and use health-related information in a more conscious and responsible way in making health decisions. The ACP model—assertiveness, clarity, and positivity—has revealed numerous positive results in health, an excellent contribution to health literacy, as it favors the acquisition of communication skills and therapeutic relationship between health professionals and patients. The use of pedagogical audiovisual techniques (PAT) is one of the best educational strategies in health and facilitates digital dissemination. This project aimed to raise the awareness of health professionals, through the PAT. As a methodology, the authors follow a literature review and the functional, interactive, and critical literacy model. They applied this PAT to health professionals, associated with a knowledge monitoring instrument. The use of the ACP model promotes an improvement in the quality of care provided and, in turn, resulting positive results in health.

2022 ◽  
pp. 224-237
Author(s):  
José Manuel Feliz ◽  
Marta Barroca

Health literacy depends on communication skills of health professionals. Assertiveness, clarity, and positivity (ACP) are a communication model/technique very useful to improve the patient-health professional relationship, adherence to treatment, health literacy, and quality of life. This model can be used in medication reconciliation (MR) – the identification of the most precise list of medication that a patient has been taking and should take, which requires a multidisciplinary participation and a better communication between health professionals and between them and the patient. When the guidance from healthcare professionals is clear and effective, patients and caregivers are more compliant to the recommended drug regimen, resulting in better health outcomes.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilija Moric ◽  
Sanja Pekovic ◽  
Jelena Jovanovic

Abstract Background : The present study extends understanding of digital health literacy by exploring issues that clarify how and when sport-physical activities enhance digital health literacy measured by four types of health-related information searched on the Internet i.e., general health information, information on a specific injury or condition, specific information on a medical treatment or procedure and information regarding second opinion after visiting a doctor. Methods: We employ Tobit model on the large European data (N=5,318). Results: We find support for direct relation between sport-physical activities and digital health literacy. In addition, we find that the effect of sport-physical activities on digital health literacy is reversed when interacted with age. Conclusion: This evidence is consistent with the view that sport-physical activities can be considered as an important tool for digital health literacy improvement but only under certain socio-demographic characteristics.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Dadaczynski ◽  
Orkan Okan ◽  
Melanie Messer ◽  
Angela Y. M. Leung ◽  
Rafaela Rosário ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Digital communication technologies play an important role in governments’ and public health authorities’ health communication strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic. The internet and social media have become important sources of health-related information on the coronavirus and on protective behaviours. In addition, the COVID-19 infodemic spreads faster than the coronavirus itself, which interferes with governmental health-related communication efforts. This puts national public health containment strategies in jeopardy. Therefore, digital health literacy is a key competence to navigate coronavirus-related information and service environments. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to investigate university students’ digital health literacy and online information seeking behaviours during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic in Germany. METHODS A cross-sectional study among N=14,916 university students aged ≥18 from 130 universities across all sixteen federal states of Germany was conducted using an online survey. Along with sociodemographic characteristics (sex, age, subjective social status) measures included five subscales from the Digital Health Literacy Instrument (DHLI), which was adapted to the specific coronavirus context. Online information seeking behaviour was investigated by examining the online sources used by university students and the topics that students search for in connection with the coronavirus. Data were analysed using univariate and bivariate analyses. RESULTS Across digital health literacy dimensions, the greatest difficulties could be found for assessing the reliability of health-related information (42.3%) and the ability to determine whether the information was written with commercial interest (38.9%). Moreover, respondents also indicated that they most frequently have problems finding the information they are looking for (30.4%). When stratified according to sociodemographic characteristics, significant differences were found with female university students reporting a lower DHLI for the dimensions of ‘information searching’ and of ‘evaluating reliability’. Search engines, news portals and public bodies’ websites were most often used by the respondents as sources to search for information on COVID-19 and related issues. Female students were found to use social media and health portals more frequently, while male students used Wikipedia and other online encyclopaedias as well as YouTube more often. The use of social media was associated with a low ability to critically evaluate information, while opposite differences were observed for the use of public websites. CONCLUSIONS Although digital health literacy is, in summary, well developed in university students, a significant proportion of students still face difficulties with certain abilities to deal with information. There is need to strengthen the digital health literacy capacities of university students using tailored interventions. Improving the quality of health-related information on the internet is also key. CLINICALTRIAL


Author(s):  
Nazan Sarper

Health literacy describes individual's skills to understand and use the information on health issues, compliance to the prescribed therapeutic regimen, prevention of disease and accidents, filtering the information, and making good judgments to maintain a healthy life. Low school education and fundamental education and poverty are barriers to gain health literacy. If TV broadcasts are used optimally for training in health issues, they may reach many people. The density of the active physicians, nurses and midwives, national health coverage, and training activities of the civil associations for chronic disease contribute to health literacy. Controversy exists about the benefits and risks of social media and mass media to health literacy due to information pollution. Self-diagnosis and marketing of under-the-counter drugs are problems of the digital age. Some projects aiming to improve digital health literacy skills will help people to reach reliable health-related information. Communication skills of healthcare professionals are also important.


Author(s):  
Nazan Sarper

Health literacy describes individual's skills to understand and use the information on health issues, compliance to the prescribed therapeutic regimen, prevention of disease and accidents, filtering the information, and making good judgments to maintain a healthy life. Low school education and fundamental education and poverty are barriers to gain health literacy. If TV broadcasts are used optimally for training in health issues, they may reach many people. The density of the active physicians, nurses and midwives, national health coverage, and training activities of the civil associations for chronic disease contribute to health literacy. Controversy exists about the benefits and risks of social media and mass media to health literacy due to information pollution. Self-diagnosis and marketing of under-the-counter drugs are problems of the digital age. Some projects aiming to improve digital health literacy skills will help people to reach reliable health-related information. Communication skills of healthcare professionals are also important.


Author(s):  
Adèle Perrin ◽  
Luiza Siqueira do Prado ◽  
Amélie Duché ◽  
Anne-Marie Schott ◽  
Alexandra L. Dima ◽  
...  

Person-centered care has led healthcare professionals (HCPs) to be more attentive to patients’ ability to understand and apply health-related information, especially those with chronic conditions. The concept of health literacy (HL) is essential in understanding patients’ needs in routine care, but its measurement is still controversial, and few tools are validated in French. We therefore considered the brief health literacy screen (BHLS) for assessing patient-reported HL in chronic care settings, and also developed an HCP-reported version of the BHLS with the aim of using it as a research instrument to assess HCPs’ evaluation of patients’ HL levels. We assessed the content validity of the French translation of both the patient-reported and HCP-reported BHLS in chronic care within hospital settings, through cognitive interviews with patients and HCPs. We performed qualitative analysis on interview data using the survey response Tourangeau model. Our results show that the BHLS is easy and quick to administer, but some terms need to be adapted to the French chronic care settings. Health-related information was observed to be mainly communicated orally, hence a useful direction for future literacy measures would be to also address verbal HL.


Author(s):  
Elke Knisel ◽  
Helge Rupprich ◽  
Annika Wunram ◽  
Markus Bremer ◽  
Christiane Desaive

Health literacy is an important outcome of the discussion of school-related health education and health promotion in the 21st century. Although the improvement of health literacy at an early age is increasingly recognized and few interventions show the development of children´s health literacy, still there is little research in this area. The purpose of the study was to examine the enhancement of health literacy among children in a physical activity-based program at elementary school. In total, 137 students aged 6–12 years participated in the program, which included health knowledge transfer in child-appropriate games and exercises. Participants´ health literacy was assessed using the HLS-Child-Q15-DE at the beginning and the end of the program. The instrument measures the access, understanding, appraisal and application of health-related information on a four-point Likert-type scale. As expected, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test revealed significant increases in self-reported health literacy over time. The results show that the degree of change in health literacy was not associated with gender or age. The results suggest that the physical activity-based program has the potential to improve elementary school children´s health literacy, even though in a single group pilot study.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 233372142098568
Author(s):  
Annie T. Chen ◽  
Frances Chu ◽  
Andrew K. Teng ◽  
Soojeong Han ◽  
Shih-Yin Lin ◽  
...  

Background: There is a need for interventions to promote health management of older adults with pre-frailty and frailty. Technology poses promising solutions, but questions exist about effective delivery. Objectives: We present the results of a mixed-methods pilot evaluation of Virtual Online Communities for Older Adults (VOCALE), an 8-week intervention conducted in the northwestern United States, in which participants shared health-related experiences and applied problem solving skills in a Facebook group. Methods: We performed a mixed-methods process evaluation, integrating quantitative and qualitative data, to characterize the intervention and its effects. We focus on four areas: health-related measures (health literacy and self-efficacy), participation, problem solving skills enacted, and subjective feedback. Results: Eight older adults with pre-frailty and frailty (age = 82.7 ± 6.6 years) completed the study. There was an upward trend in health literacy and health self-efficacy post-intervention. Participants posted at least two times per week. Content analysis of 210 posts showed participants were able to apply the problem solving skills taught, and exit interviews showed participants’ increased awareness of the need to manage health, and enjoyment in learning about others. Conclusion: This mixed-methods evaluation provides insight into feasibility and design considerations for online interventions to promote health management among vulnerable older adults.


2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (Supplement_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
F Samkange-Zeeb ◽  
H Singh ◽  
M Lakeberg ◽  
J Kolschen ◽  
B Schüz ◽  
...  

Abstract   Disadvantaged populations, including unemployed adults, often exhibit low levels of health literacy. Exploring subjectively perceived health literacy needs in these populations can serve as an entry point for participatory intervention development. We aimed to assess health literacy needs of unemployed adults by triangulating qualitative interviews data and a scoping review. Using a parallel approach, we combined results of an interview study with 10 participants of a job-reintegration program in Germany and a scoping review. The interviews, conducted in early 2021, focused on health topics of interest to the participants and their sources of health-related information. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. For the scoping review, we searched MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycInfo and SCOPUS up to January 2021 for studies containing “unemployed” AND “health literacy” in titles/abstracts. Study selection and data extraction were done independently by two researchers. Nutrition and physical activity emerged as core themes during the interviews, with some participants referring to the importance of both for mental health. Doctors and the institution running the job-reintegration program were the sources of health-related information often mentioned. The Corona pandemic was reported to have limited physical activity and affected psycho-social well-being. Five out of 2696 studies were included in the review. Four focused on mental health literacy, the fifth assessed information seeking practices in unemployed adults. The qualitative analysis revealed that health literacy needs of unemployed adults go beyond mental health literacy. As nutrition and physical activity impact mental health, interventions targeting such topics might also improve mental health literacy in unemployed adults. Study findings will be discussed with unemployed persons and social workers in co-production workshops that aim to identify and prioritize health literacy needs for intervention development. Key messages Health literacy programs for unemployed adults should target nutrition and physical activity. Workforce re-integration programs play a pivotal role in improving health literacy of unemployed adults.


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