11.K. Scientific session: Roots of public health: school health literacy to enhance population health outcomes in Europe
Authors:   Organised by: EUPHA-HL, -DH, -HP, -ETH, -CAPH, London South Banks University (UK), Technical University of Munich (Germany), WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Literacy,   Chair persons: Catherine Jenkins (UK), Orkan Okan (EUPHA-HL)
Published: October 2024

This workshop will present empirical results from three representative studies on health literacy and digital health literacy conducted in primary and secondary schools in Wales and Germany: (1) Digital Health Literacy in Schools, (2), HLCA HL-Kids, (3) WHO HBSC Wales. While research on child and adolescent health literacy has gained traction in the past decade, only a few studies focus on health literacy in schools. While the European Commission and WHO, as well as most European governments, highlight the importance of schools to support children’s health literacy, schools remain neglected as a research context. With only little evidence available, it is difficult to derive strategies and programs to promote health literacy in schools. We aim to provide practical novel knowledge and contribute to closing the school health literacy gap that is prevalent in Europe. In turn, this will also contribute to European public health development and population health outcomes. Levels of health literacy in child and adolescent populations across European countries and age groups are alarmingly low, making low health literacy a severe risk factor for health outcomes. Low health literacy is associated with worse health conditions and unhealthy behaviours, and in turn, impacts school attainment and educational outcomes. Evidence suggests that health literacy acts as a determinant of health and itself is influenced by other social determinants of health, such as education, intertwining health and education. All studies conducted so far provide evidence that low health literacy follows a social gradient, with children from less affluent families being more likely to have lower health literacy, widening preexisting health inequities observed in almost all health domains within Europe. While effective interventions on the individual and system levels are needed to enhance health literacy, implementation and evaluation research concerning children’s health literacy is rare.

Workshop objectives

The aim of this workshop is to present findings from three representative studies on health literacy and digital health literacy in primary and secondary schools:

(i) The 1st speaker will introduce a study on health literacy and health behaviours of children aged 8-11

(ii) The 2nd speaker will discuss the influence of living environments on health literacy in 4th-grader school kids

(iii) The 3rd presentation will have its focus on navigating the infodemic through digital health literacy in adolescent students

(iv) The 4th speaker will show links between digital health literacy and health behaviour in adolescent students

The format of this workshop will be 4x10-minute presentations followed by a 20-minute panel discussion with the audience, reflecting the relevance of the results to public health research, practice, and policy. The chairs will provide a brief introduction to the concept and moderate the presentations and panel discussion.

Key messages

• Our results show that health literacy should be addressed as early as in primary schools and that the places, households, and environments children grow up are critical social determinants of health.

• Digital health literacy has proven to be a valid learning topic in secondary schools and is linked to digital and media literacy, allowing us to define it as a targeted curriculum item.