School‐Based Health Literacy Programs for Children (2‐16 Years): An International Review

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Health literacy impacts children's health and educational attainment. Therefore, determining the most appropriate pedagogical design is critical. The long-term health benefits of health literacy for each child's life course further justify this imperative. School-based health literacy programs are of interest internationally. METHODS:We brainstormed the search terms and established inclusion/exclusion criteria for this systematic review. We searched 2 databases (CINAHL, ERIC) following PRISMA guidelines. Three authors screened and sorted the findings. RESULTS:We identified 21 relevant studies from 629 retrieved. Few (6/21) studies were situated in the primary school setting. CONCLUSIONS:This review found a variety of project designs, evaluation methods, and conceptual models. Descriptive analysis of the final 21 papers highlighted the importance of multicomponent design (whole-of-school and curriculum), cross-curricula integration, professional development for teachers, age of children, role of parents, and role of community. The results of this analysis may inform primary school program design in the future. Schools provide a logical setting for health literacy development. Despite the evidence that adolescence is too late, few studies have been situated in primary schools. Teachers lack confidence to teach health and need ongoing professional development. Parent, child, and community voices are essential for sustained engagement and program success.

Developing Indicators to Measure Critical Health Literacy in the Context of Norwegian Lower Secondary Schools

“…Important recommendations for successful interventions to improve HL include the whole school approach, collaboration with school-based health services, inquiry-based critical pedagogy, and teaching HL across different subjects [ 4 ]. CHL is one recommended approach for developing HL in school contexts [ 4 , 6 , 20 ]. The new cross-curricular subject HLS provides an appropriate setting for implementing these recommendations in the Norwegian school.…”

“…More details on the LR and included studies are given in the Supplementary Materials Table S2 . References [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ] are cited in the Supplementary Materials .…”

“…Health Literacy (HL) has become a crucial goal of health education efforts across the globe [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. Adolescents frequently engage with health-related information provided by their peers, adults, the media, social media, and commercial forces [ 1 ].…”

“…Considering the recent pandemic, researchers have emphasized the need to see HL in relation to social responsibility and solidarity [ 5 ]. Schools are central actors in this area and can help to improve HL and connect it to social responsibility among all adolescents across diverse social groups [ 1 , 4 , 6 , 7 ]. According to the Norwegian Education Act [ 8 ], children and adolescents should gain knowledge, skills, and attitudes that will help them to master their lives and participate in and contribute to adult life and the communities in society.…”

“…In Norway, the term ‘health literacy’ is not explicitly used in the curriculum; however, the subject of HLS aligns well with contemporary frameworks and recommendations related to HL. A recent review of school-based HL interventions emphasize that HL should be taught across different subjects and using an inquiry-based and critical learning strategy [ 4 ]; these approaches correspond with the purpose and content in the cross-curricular subject HLS.…”