A Comparative Study on Adolescents’ Health Literacy in Europe: Findings from the HBSC Study

Abstract

(1) Background: There is a need for studies on population-level health literacy (HL) to identify the current state of HL within and between countries. We report comparative findings from 10 European countries (Austria, Belgium (Fl), Czechia, England, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Macedonia, Poland, and Slovakia) on adolescents’ HL and its associations with gender, family affluence (FAS), and self-rated health (SRH). (2) Methods: Representative data (N = 14,590; age 15) were drawn from the HBSC (Health Behavior in School-Aged Children) study. The associations between HL, gender, FAS, and SRH were examined via path models. (3) Results: The countries exhibited differences in HL means and in the range of scores within countries. Positive associations were found between FAS and HL, and between HL and SRH in each country. Gender was associated with differences in HL in only three countries. HL acted as a mediator between gender and SRH in four countries, and between FAS and SRH in each country. (4) Conclusions: The findings confirm that there are differences in HL levels within and between European countries, and that HL does contribute to differences in SRH. HL should be taken into account when devising evidence-informed policies and interventions to promote the health of adolescents.

A pilot study of adolescent health literacy research in Melbourne: Implementation and reflections

“…Measuring and monitoring adolescent health literacy is an integral part of designing and delivering health promotion programs that address health inequities and improve health outcomes 1 . Evidence has shown that there is a social gradient in adolescent health literacy, 23,24 which in turn leads to health promotion outcomes. Adolescents with high health literacy levels are more likely to have health‐promoting behaviours, communicate effectively with health professionals, and perceive their health status as good 4,5,24 .…”

“…Evidence has shown that there is a social gradient in adolescent health literacy, 23,24 which in turn leads to health promotion outcomes. Adolescents with high health literacy levels are more likely to have health‐promoting behaviours, communicate effectively with health professionals, and perceive their health status as good 4,5,24 . Due to the small sample size, we did not test the reliability and validity of the three health literacy instruments and did not investigate the relationship between adolescent health literacy and health outcomes.…”

Moving Health Literacy Research and Practice towards a Vision of Equity, Precision and Transparency

“…Based on the Demographic and Health Surveys, McClintock et al [ 29 ] found that the prevalence of poor health literacy among respondents aged 15–49 years ranged from 36.1% in Namibia to 91.5% in Niger across 14 sub-Saharan countries. As for children and adolescents, the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study shows that, in 10 countries (e.g., Austria, England, Finland), a total of 13.3% of participants have low levels of health literacy, ranging from 6.0% to 17.7% across countries [ 30 ].…”

Promotion of Elementary School Students’ Health Literacy

“…The approach of “learning by playing” could be especially essential and effective with young kids. In various literature reviews, a number of approaches were identified and studies performed for youth or secondary school students [ 6 , 8 , 21 , 22 ] Paakkari et al (2020) [ 22 ], for example, compared the level of health literacy of 15-year-old students in 10 European countries (N = 14,590) using the Health Literacy for School-Aged Children (HLSAC) as an instrument. The findings revealed that 13% of the students reported low health literacy, whereas 67% had a moderate level of health literacy, and 20% reached a high level.…”

“…Nearly the same proportion of low health literacy was exposed in a representative study by Sukys et al (2019) [ 23 ] among Lithuanian students from the 7th to 10th grades. The highest mean scores in the study of Paakkari et al (2020) were found in Macedonia and Finland [ 22 ]. The Finish result corresponds to the study of Paakkari et al (2017) [ 24 ] with seventh and ninth graders (N = 3833) who demonstrated that 33% of the participants showed a high level of health literacy and 60% had a moderate level of health literacy.…”