Child and Youth Health Literacy: A Conceptual Analysis and Proposed Target-Group-Centred Definition

Janine Bröder, Orkan Okan, Torsten M. Bollweg, Dirk Bruland, Paulo Pinheiro and Ullrich Bauer
Additional contact information
Janine Bröder: Centre for Prevention and Intervention in Childhood and Adolescence (CPI), Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
Orkan Okan: Centre for Prevention and Intervention in Childhood and Adolescence (CPI), Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
Torsten M. Bollweg: Centre for Prevention and Intervention in Childhood and Adolescence (CPI), Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
Dirk Bruland: Institute for Education and Care research in the health sector (InBVG), University of Applied Sciences Bielefeld, 33619 Bielefeld, Germany
Paulo Pinheiro: Centre for Prevention and Intervention in Childhood and Adolescence (CPI), Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
Ullrich Bauer: Centre for Prevention and Intervention in Childhood and Adolescence (CPI), Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 18, 1-17

Abstract: (1) Background: This article adopts an interdisciplinary perspective to analyse, examine, and reflect upon prominent health literacy (HL) understandings in childhood and youth. (2) Method: The conceptual analysis combined Rodgers’ and Jabareen’s approaches to conceptual analysis in eight phases. (3) Results: First, we present exploratory entry points for developing a child-specific HL understanding based on the six dimensions of a ‘health-literacy 6D model’. Second, we describe and reflect upon five meta-level dimensions covering the HL definitions and models for children and youth found in the conceptual analysis. Third, we integrate our findings into a target-group-centred HL definition for children and youth. (4) Discussion/Conclusion: This article raises awareness for the heterogeneity of the current conceptual HL debate. It offers a multidisciplinary approach for advancing the existing understanding of HL. Four recommendations for future actions are deduced from the following four principles, which are inherent to the proposed target-group-centred HL definition: (a) to characterize HL from an asset-based perspective, (b) to consider HL as socially embedded and distributed, (c) to recognize that HL develops both in phases and in flexible ways, and (d) to consider the multimodal nature of health-related information. Further research is necessary to test the feasibility and applicability of the proposed definition and conceptual understanding in both research and practice.

Keywords: health literacy; children; young people; adolescents; pupils; concept; definition; conceptual analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/18/3417/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/18/3417/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:18:p:3417-:d:267201

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().