In Germany, midwives are involved in extensive antenatal and postnatal care. As health professionals, they can play a key role in strengthening health literacy (HL) of parents on how to prevent chronic allergic diseases in their children. The objective of this study is to explore midwives’ perspectives regarding HL-sensitive counselling in early childhood allergy prevention (ECAP). Twenty-four qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with midwives, and data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Only a small number of study participants were aware of HL as a concept. However, most of these use screening and counselling strategies which consider individual information needs and which support parental HL. HL sensitivity in counselling is largely based on the midwives’ “gut feelings” and counselling experience, rather than on formal education. The midwives were largely aware of evidence-based ECAP recommendations; however, allergy prevention was not seen as a stand-alone topic but as part of their general counselling on infant feeding and hygiene. They found parents to be more open to receiving complex prevention information during antenatal counselling. In order to strengthen midwives’ roles in HL-sensitive ECAP counselling, their formal education should provide them with explicit HL knowledge and counselling skills. ECAP should be an inherent part of antenatal care.

IntroductionPaediatricians, general practitioners (GPs) and midwives in primary care are important sources of information for parents on early childhood allergy prevention (ECAP). Research has shown that preventive counselling by health professionals can be effective in improving patients’ health literacy (HL) and health behaviour. Providing effective advice relies on two factors. First, health professionals need be up-to-date with research evidence on ECAP, to consider popular misconceptions and fears and to translate this knowledge into clear recommendations for parents (knowledge translation). Second, they need to know and apply counselling techniques and create a practice setting which accommodates parental HL needs (health literacy-responsive care). The objective of this study is to explore and assess how German health professionals take up and translate ECAP evidence into appropriate recommendations for parents, how they consider HL in counselling and practice organisation and what barriers and enablers they find in their performance of HL-responsive ECAP.Methods and analysisThe study has a sequential mixed-method design, in two phases. In the first phase, qualitative semi-structured expert interviews will be conducted with health professionals (paediatricians, GPs and midwives) at primary care level and professional policy level. Data collection is ongoing until January 2022. In the second phase, based on the qualitative results, a standardised questionnaire will be developed, and pilot-tested in a wider population of German health professionals. The findings of both phases will be integrated.Ethics and disseminationThe study has received ethical approval from the Ethics Committee of the University of Regensburg (18-1205-101). The results will be published in international peer-reviewed open access journals and via presentations at scientific conferences. The results will also be shared with German health professionals, decision-makers and potential funders of interventions.

Background Health literacy (HL) is an important public health goal but also crucial in individuals providing medical care. During the pandemic, COVID-19–related HL of health professionals (HPs) has gained momentum; it helps to minimize the risk of self-infection, on the one hand, and to protect patients and relatives from infection, on the other. However, comprehensive information about the levels of individual pandemic-related HL in HPs is scarce. Objective In this paper, we aimed at describing the extent of existing research on HL (concept) conducted in HPs (population) in the COVID-19 pandemic (context). The review intends to map the literature on HL in HPs, thereby highlighting research gaps. Methods This scoping review was conducted using the methodology of Khalil et al (2016). This involved an electronic search of PubMed (MEDLINE) and PsycInfo and a hand search. The included studies were iteratively examined to find items representing the four HL dimensions of access, understand, critically appraise, and apply COVID-19–related health information. Results The search yielded a total of 3875 references. Only 7 (1.4%) of the 489 included studies explicitly stated to have addressed HL; 2 (0.4%) studies attempted to develop an instrument measuring COVID-19–related HL in HPs; 6 (1.2%) studies included an HL measure in an observational survey design. Of the remainder, the vast majority used a cross-sectional design. The dimensions access and understand were frequently examined, but few studies looked at the dimensions critical appraisal or apply. Very few studies reported an intervention aiming to improve a COVID-19–related HL outcome. Conclusions High levels of COVID-19–related HL among HPs are necessary to ensure not only safe practice with necessary protection of HPs, their patients, and relatives, but also successful care delivery and subsequently improved health outcomes in the long term. To advance our understanding of how high COVID-19–related HL manifests itself in HPs, how it relates to health outcomes, and how it can be improved, more research is necessary. Trial Registration Open Science Framework dbfa5; https://osf.io/dbfa5/

Zusammenfassung Das Gesundheitssystem beeinflusst die Gesundheitskompetenz (GK) und Gesundheitschancen von Patienten. Gesundheitsfachkräfte können die GK von Patienten stärken, indem sie GK-orientierte Beratungsmethoden einsetzen, wie z.B. das Verwenden von einfacher Sprache. Um dieses Potenzial besser zu nutzen, müsste die Ausbildung von Gesundheitsfachkräften zu GK-orientierter Versorgung ausgeweitet werden. Dies zeigt auch eine aktuelle Studie mit Pädiatern und Hebammen im deutschen Versorgungskontext.

BackgroundPediatricians are important sources of information for parents regarding their children's health. During the COVID-19 pandemic, pediatricians faced a variety of challenges regarding information uptake and transfer to patients, practice organization and consultations for families. This qualitative study aimed at shedding light on German pediatricians’ experiences of providing outpatient care during the first year of the pandemic.MethodsWe conducted 19 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with pediatricians in Germany from July 2020 to February 2021. All interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, pseudonymized, coded, and subjected to content analysis.ResultsPediatricians felt able to keep up to date regarding COVID-19 regulations. However, staying informed was time consuming and onerous. Informing the patients was perceived as strenuous, especially when political decisions had not been officially communicated to pediatricians or if the recommendations were not supported by the professional judgment of the interviewees. Some felt that they were not taken seriously or adequately involved in political decisions. Parents were reported to consider pediatric practices as sources of information also for non-medical inquiries. Answering these questions was time consuming for the practice personnel and involved non-billable hours. Practices had to adapt their set-up and organization immediately to the new circumstances of the pandemic, which proved costly and laborious as well. Some changes in the organization of routine care, such as the separation of appointments for patients with acute infection from preventive appointments, were perceived as positive and effective by some study participants. Telephone and online consultations were established at the beginning of the pandemic and considered helpful for some situations, whereas for others these methods were deemed insufficient (e.g. for examinations of sick children). All pediatricians reported reduced utilization mainly due to a decline in acute infections. However, preventive medical check-ups and immunization appointments were reported to be mostly attended.ConclusionPositive experiences of reorganizing pediatric practice should be disseminated as “best practices” in order to improve future pediatric health services. Further research could show how some of these positive experiences in reorganizing care during the pandemic are to be maintained by pediatricians in the future.