Proficiência em Saúde

Health literacy and public health: A systematic review and integration of definitions and models

Kristine Sorensen, Stephan VAN DEN Broucke, James Fullam, Gerardine Doyle, Jurgen Pelikan, Zofia Slonska, Helmut Brand and European Health Literacy Project (HLS-EU) Consortium

BMC Public Health 2012, 12:80                  doi:10.1186/1471-2458-12-80
Published: 25 January 2012

Health literacy  - Proficiência em Saúde - corresponde ao conjunto de conhecimentos e competências a serem adquiridas pelo profissional de saúde para enfrentar as demandas complexas de saúde da sociedade moderna. Apesar de sua crescente importância, é um conceito novo e ainda insuficientemente consensuado. 

O presente trabalho, assinado por representantes do "European Health Literacy Project (HLS-EU) Consortium" apresenta o resultado dos trabalhos do consórcio de definição do marco conceitual sobre o tema.

Além da grande relevância do tema, a leitura do artigo será valiosa para aqueles interessados em técnicas de consenso e análise de conteúdo.

Segue o resumo e o link para a versão provisória do trabalho.

 

Background

Health literacy concerns the knowledge and competences of persons to meet the complex demands of health in modern society. Although its importance is increasingly recognised, there is no consensus about the definition of health literacy or about its conceptual dimensions, which limits the possibilities for measurement and comparison. The aim of the study is to review definitions and models on health literacy to develop an integrated definition and conceptual model capturing the most comprehensive evidence-based dimensions of health literacy.

Methods

A systematic literature review was performed to identify definitions and conceptual frameworks of health literacy. A content analysis of the definitions and conceptual frameworks was carried out to identify the central dimensions of health literacy and develop an integrated model.

Results

The review resulted in 17 definitions of health literacy and 12 conceptual models. Based on the content analysis, an integrative conceptual model was developed containing 12 dimensions referring to the knowledge, motivation and competencies of accessing, understanding, appraising and applying health-related information within the healthcare, disease prevention and health promotion setting, respectively.

Conclusions

Based upon this review, a model is proposed integrating medical and public health views of health literacy. The model can serve as a basis for developing health literacy enhancing interventions and provide a conceptual basis for the development and validation of measurement tools, capturing the different dimensions of health literacy within the healthcare, disease prevention and health promotion settings. 

 

The complete article is available as a provisional PDF. The fully formatted PDF and HTML versions are in production.