2.L. Workshop: Health literacy in childhood and adolescence (HLCA): A focus on health literacy in schools
Authors:   Organised by: EUPHA-HP, Bielefeld University (Germany),   Chair persons: Orkan Okan (EUPHA-HP), Torsten Michael Bollweg (Germany)
Published: October 2021

Enhancing health literacy of children and adolescents is a critical means for health promotion and sustainable development. This is mainly because childhood and adolescence represent key stages for addressing health, social, cognitive, emotional and educational development and influencing health behavior and healthy lifestyles over the life-course. The education sector is particularly important, and schools represent a critical setting to facilitate health literacy teaching and learning, for example in health education classes or whole-of-school approaches. Regarding the question of what makes health literacy so important for children and adolescents these days, there are three key themes and recent developments which amplified the meaning and relevance of health literacy for public health and societies: (i) A globalizing world: Globalization and digitalization change the ways in which health is negotiated and promoted, including that today health information is almost limitlessly accessible in everyday life. (ii) The information overload: The overload of information - a.k.a. infodemic (short for information epidemic) - makes health literacy a critical skill-set in managing the overabundance of information that is available through digital communication channels; while at the same time children and adolescents are increasingly turning to the Internet and social media as sources of health information and for communication about health issues with their peers or social contacts. (iii) The COVID-19 pandemic: The pandemic has once again underlined how important health literacy is not only for understanding public health recommendations, applying health behaviours, avoiding unnecessary risks, and protecting individual, family, and population health, but also to learn about the importance of vaccination, to become knowledgeable and skilled in navigating the infodemic, and to identifying fake news and disinformation about COVID-19. The purpose of this workshop is to bring together five contemporary projects on health literacy from Germany in and with schools that reflect the above issues: (i) A cross-sectional pen-and-paper survey in primary schools on children's health literacy; (ii) A survey on adolescents health literacy; (iii) The development of a toolbox for health literacy interventions in schools; (iv) An intervention for improving adolescent's mental health literacy in schools, (v) A whole school approach and organizational health literacy in schools. Each project will be given ample time to present their findings, which will be followed by Q&A and an open discussion with the audiences. This workshop offers a forum for researchers, practitioners and policymakers interested in school related health literacy and school health promotion. By dialogue and two-way communication, vivid interaction will be ensured, allow building synergies, and facilitate networking and capacity building.

Key messages

Health literacy contributes to promoting and maintaining child and adolescent health in times of crisis like the COVID19 pandemic. Health literacy needs to be strengthened through investments in the education sector and school health promotion programs.