Illuminating (digital) health literacy practices using applied linguistics

• Published in: European journal of public health Vol. 30; no. Supplement_5
• Main Authors: Harsch, S, Bittlingmayer, U
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford Publishing Limited (England) 01-09-2020
• Subjects: Communication; Content analysis; Curricula; Decision making; Differentiation; Everyday life; Health education; Health literacy; Language; Linguistics; Literacy; Mental health; Migrants; Organizational aspects; Public health; Qualitative analysis; Refugees; Skills; Social factors; Textbooks
• ISSN: 1101-1262; 1464-360X
• DOI: 10.1093/eurpub/ckaa165.1247

Background Health literacy (HL) is key to making well-informed health decision in analogous and virtual social situations and organizational contexts. Multiple models and instruments of HL exist, but an in-depth understanding of the various HL-related everyday life situations and their digital and linguistic requirements are scarce. Here, the expertise of second language courses (SLC) can be of great value as they support newcomers acquiring the necessary skills for everyday communication, including health. In the project SCURA, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research, we explored the German SLC, attended by 2.1 million migrants and refugees since 2005, and developed interventions to promote HL in it. The aim is to understand what everyday situations require (digital) HL skills, what characterizes them and what can we learn for HL models and interventions. Methods We conducted a qualitative content analysis (Bowen 2009) of the 8 newest, approved German second language textbooks series, identified all tasks related to HL, analyzed the situation, topic, language skills, analogue/digital and HL dimension and compared the findings with the HLS-EU conceptual model of HL. Results We identified 180 HL-related communication situations, including 33 tasks related to digital HL. Compared to the HLS-EU conceptual model, the HL activities in SLC reveal a broad understanding of HL including physical, mental and social aspects of HL, linguistic, cultural and digital skills and even critical HL. 5 HL-related dimensions emerged: communication for health, health literacy, health knowledge, health behaviour and life-skills. The differentiation and activities can help to develop further models and interventions that target specific situations requiring digital HL more effectively. Conclusions The analysis of the SLC curricula specified the various (digital) HL-related everyday life situations and! the differentiated model helps to develop promising interventions.