Sørensenetal.BMCPublicHealth2012,12:80 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/80 RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access Health literacy and public health: A systematic review and integration of definitions and models Kristine Sørensen1*† , Stephan Van den Broucke2† , James Fullam3† , Gerardine Doyle3† , Jürgen Pelikan4, Zofia Slonska5 and Helmut Brand1† , for (HLS-EU) Consortium Health Literacy Project European6 Abstract 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. Background Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) Health literacy is a term introduced in the 1970s [1] and during its history in English, the word ‘literate’ mostly of increasing importance in public health and health- meant to be ‘familiar with literature’ or in general terms care. It is concerned with the capacities of people to ‘well educated, learned’. While maintaining its broader meet the complex demands of health in a modern meaning of being knowledgeable or educated in a parti- society [2]. Health literate means placing one’s own cular area, during the late nineteenth century it has also health and that of one’s family and community into con- come to refer to the abilities to read and write text. In text, understanding which factors are influencing it, and recent years four understandings of literacy have knowing how to address them. An individual with an appeared from the debate of the notion: 1) Literacy as adequate level of health literacy has the ability to take an autonomous set of skills; 2) literacy as applied, prac- responsibility for one’s own health as well as one’s ticed and situated; 3) literacy as a learning process; and family health and community health [3]. 4) literacy as text. The focus is furthermore broadening It is important to distinguish health literacy from lit- so that literacy is not only referring to individual trans- eracy in general. According to the United Nation formation, but also to contextual and societal transfor- mation in terms of linking health literacy to economic growth and socio-cultural and political change [4]. *Correspondence:K.Sorensen@Maastrichtuniversity.nl †Contributedequally The same development can be traced in the realm of 1DepartmentofInternationalHealth,ResearchSchoolofPrimaryCareand health literacy. For some time most emphasis was given PublicHealth,MaastrichtUniversity,Maastricht,TheNetherlands to health literacy as the ability to handle words and Fulllistofauthorinformationisavailableattheendofthearticle ©2012Sorensenetal;BioMedCentralLtd..ThisisanOpenAccessarticledistributedunderthetermsoftheCreativeCommons AttributionLicense(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0),whichpermitsunrestricteduse,distribution,andreproductionin anymedium,providedtheoriginalworkisproperlycited.Sørensenetal.BMCPublicHealth2012,12:80 Page2of13 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/80 numbers in a medical context, and in recent years the European Commission include the promotion of health concept is broadening to also understanding health lit- literacy programs for different age groups. eracy as involving the simultaneous use of a more com- However, with the proliferation of health literacy plex and interconnected set of abilities, such as reading research and policy measures, it becomes clear that and acting upon written health information, communi- there is no unanimously accepted definition of the con- cating needs to health professionals, and understanding cept. Moreover, the constituent dimensions of health lit- health instructions [5]. American studies in the 1990s eracy remain disputed, and attempts to operationalize linked literacy to health, showing an association between the concept vary widely in scope, method and quality. low literacy and decreased medication adherence, As a result, it is very difficult to compare findings with knowledge of disease and self-care management skills regard to health literacy emerging from research in dif- [6]. The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy ferent countries. (NAAL), which measured the English literacy of Ameri- The current article aims to address this issue by offer- can adults (people age 16 and older) included questions ing a systematic review of existing definitions and con- related to health, and revealed the consequences of lim- cepts of health literacy as reported in the international ited literacy on health and healthcare [7]. literature, by identifying the central health literacy A report from the Institute of Medicine indicates that dimensions, the target group as well as antecedents and nearly half of the American adult population may have consequences if explained. in order to develop an inte- difficulties in acting on health information [8]. This grated definition and conceptual model capturing the finding has been referred to as the “health literacy epi- most comprehensive evidence-based dimensions of demic” [9]. In response, measures have been taken to health literacy. ensure better health communication through establish- ing health literacy guidelines [10], and a trans-disciplin- Method ary approach has been encouraged to improve health A systematic review in Medline, Pubmed and Web of literacy [11]. To support this approach, the American Science was performed by two independent research Medical Association recommends four areas for teams in autumn 2009 and spring 2010 and the results research: health literacy screening; improving communi- compared and combined to obtain information regard- cation with low-literacy patients; costs and outcomes of ing two research questions: (1) How is health literacy poor health literacy; and causal pathways of how poor defined? and (2) How can health literacy be conceptua- health literacy influences health [12,13]. The research lized? To retrieve studies, 17 keywords (definition, literature on health literacy has expanded exponentially, model, concept, dimension, framework, conceptual fra- with nearly 5,000 PubMed-listed publications to date mework, theory, analysis, qualitative, quantitative, com- (Primo November 2011), the majority of which have petence, skill, “public health”, communication, been published since 2005 [5,14] and is evident that information, functional, critical) were combined (using health literacy is being explored within different disci- the Boolean operator and) with the search terms “health plines and with different approaches, e.g. looking at the literacy”, “health competence”, and health competence role of health educators in promoting health literacy (without quotes). Combinations of the keywords with [15]; public health literacy for lawyers [16], health com- health literacy (without quotes) produced a list of stu- munication [17], the prevalence of limited health literacy dies that was too wide for the purpose of this study, and [18], and health literacy as an empowerment tool for therefore not used for the review. From the resulting low-income mothers [19]. list, studies were selected for inclusion in the review on While until recently the interest in health literacy was the basis of their abstracts. Eligible studies were mainly concentrated in the United States and Canada, it included which met the following inclusion criteria: (1) has become more internationalized over the past decade written in English; (2) concerned with health literacy in [20]. Research on health literacy has taken place in e.g. a developed country; and (3) offering relevant content Australia [21,22], Korea [23], Japan [24], the UK [25], with regard to the definition or conceptualization of the Netherlands [26], and Switzerland [27]. Although health literacy, or a combination of these issues. the EU produced less than a third of the global research The eligible literature was scanned for definitions, and on health literacy between 1991 and 2005 [28,29], the a content analysis was performed in three steps: Firstly, importance of the issue is increasingly recognized in the definitions were coded and condensed by two European health policies. As a case in point, health lit- research teams working independently. Secondly the eracy is explicitly mentioned as an area of priority action analysis was discussed with a panel of health experts in the European Commission’s Health Strategy 2008- from the European Health Literacy Consortium. In a 2013 [30]. It is linked to the core value of citizen third step, the feedback was elaborated by the original empowerment, and the priority actions proposed by the research team and integrated in a final analysis yieldingSørensenetal.BMCPublicHealth2012,12:80 Page3of13 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/80 a condensed ‘all-inclusive’ definition of health literacy individual health literacy. Public health literacy can be capturing the different meanings and dimensions pre- found when the conceptual foundations of health lit- sented in the literature. In addition, an overview of all eracy are in place in a group or community. models from the eligible literature was conducted, the The content analysis on the definitions yielded six models were compared according to dimensions, target clusters representing: (1) competence, skills, abilities; (2) groups and antecedents as well as consequences if actions; (3) information and resources; (4) objective; (5) explained, and as a result a new conceptual model was context; and (6) time as outlined in Table 2. Accordingly drafted capturing the most comprehensive core dimen- each cluster was carefully examined, discussed and con- sions of health literacy identified as well as its antece- densed by the research team and the resulting chosen dents and consequences. terms and notions were combined to yield a new ‘all inclusive’ comprehensive definition capturing the Results essence of the 17 definitions identified in the literature: The combination of the key words with the three search terms resulted in the initial identification of 170 publica- Health literacy is linked to literacy and entails peo- tions. Additional publications were found by reference ple’s knowledge, motivation and competences to tracking and included in the review. Based on the appli- access, understand, appraise, and apply health infor- cation of the inclusion criteria to the abstracts, 19 publi- mation in order to make judgments and take deci- cations were retrieved which explicitly dealt with the sions in everyday life concerning healthcare, disease definition of health literacy, and 12 with conceptual fra- prevention and health promotion to maintain or meworks of health literacy. improve quality of life during the life course. Definitions of health literacy This definition encompasses the public health per- From the 19 publications focusing specifically on defini- spective and can easily be specified to accommodate an tions of health literacy 17 explicit definitions could be individual approach by substituting the three domains of derived (Table 1). Of these definitions, the ones by the health “healthcare, disease prevention and health pro- American Medical Association [12], the Institute of motion” with “being ill, being at risk and staying Medicine [8] and WHO [31] are cited most frequently healthy”. in the eligible literature. A shared characteristic of these definitions is their focus on individual skills to obtain, Concepts of health literacy process and understand health information and services Table 3 lists the publications which provide a concep- necessary to make appropriate health decisions. How- tual model of health literacy. From this overview, two ever, recent discussions on the role of health literacy issues become apparent. Firstly, health literacy is a mul- highlight the importance of moving beyond an indivi- tidimensional concept and consists of different compo- dual focus, and of considering health literacy as an nents. Secondly, most conceptual models not only interaction between the demands of health systems and consider the key components of health literacy, but also the skills of individuals. In fact the Institute of Medicine identify the individual and system-level factors that report already alluded that “health literacy is a shared influence a person’s level of health literacy, as well as function of social and individual factors, which emerges the pathways that link health literacy to health from the interaction of the skills of individuals and the outcomes. demands of social systems” [8]. More recently, Kwan Dimensions of health literacy [32] and Pleasant [33] underscored the importance of The distinction between medical and public health lit- skills and abilities on the part of all parties involved in eracy [35] is reflected in the identification of different communication and decisions about health, including dimensions. Within the definition of health literacy as patients, providers, health educators, and lay people. individual capacities, the Institute of Medicine [8] con- This broader view is presented in the definition pro- sider cultural and conceptual knowledge, listening, posed by Zarcadoolas, Pleasant and Greer [34], who speaking, arithmetical, writing, and reading skills as the state that a health literate person is able to apply health main components of health literacy. Speros [48] also concepts and information to novel situations, and to identifies reading and numeracy skills as the defining participate in ongoing public and private dialogues attributes, but adds comprehension, the capacity to use about health, medicine, scientific knowledge, and cul- health information in decision making, and successful tural beliefs. Freedman and her collegues [35] argue that functioning in the role of healthcare consumer as the medical perspective on factors influencing people’s dimensions. Baker [49] divides health literacy into health health should be shifted towards a societal level, and related print literacy and health related oral literacy, that a distinction must be made between public and while Paashe-Orlow and Wolf [40] distinguish betweenSørensenetal.BMCPublicHealth2012,12:80 Page4of13 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/80 Table 1Definitions ofhealthliteracy 1 WHO(1998) “Thecognitiveandsocialskillswhichdeterminethemotivationandabilityofindividualstogainaccessto understandanduseinformationinwayswhichpromoteandmaintaingoodhealth”[31] 2 AmericanMedicalAssociation’s “Theconstellationofskills,includingtheabilitytoperformbasicreadingandnumeraltasksrequiredto (1999) functioninthehealthcareenvironment”[12] 3 Nutbeam(2000) “Thepersonal,cognitiveandsocialskillswhichdeterminetheabilityofindividualstogainaccessto, understand,anduseinformationtopromoteandmaintaingoodhealth”[36] 4 InstituteofMedicine(2004) “Theindividuals’capacitytoobtain,processandunderstandbasichealthinformationandservicesneeded tomakeappropriatehealthdecisions”[8] 5 Kickbusch,Wait&Maag(2005) “Theabilitytomakesoundhealthdecision(s)inthecontextofeverydaylife–athome,inthecommunity,at theworkplace,thehealthcaresystem,themarketplaceandthepoliticalarena.Itisacriticalempowerment strategytoincreasepeople’scontrolovertheirhealth,theirabilitytoseekoutinformationandtheirability totakeresponsibility”[37] 6 Zarcadoolas,Pleasant&Greer “Thewiderangeofskills,andcompetenciesthatpeopledeveloptoseekout,comprehend,evaluateand (2003,2005,2006) usehealthinformationandconceptstomakeinformedchoices,reducehealthrisksadincreasequalityof life”[34,38,39] 7 Paasche-Orlow&Wolf(2006) “Anindividual’spossessionofrequisiteskillsformakinghealth-relateddecisions,whichmeansthathealth literacymustalwaysbeexaminedinthecontextofthespecifictasksthatneedtobeaccomplished.The importanceofacontextualappreciationofhealthliteracymustbeunderscored”[40] 8 EU(2007) “Theabilitytoread,filterandunderstandhealthinformationinordertoformsoundjudgments”[30] 9 Pavlekovic(2008) “Thecapacitytoobtain,interpretandunderstandbasichealthinformationandservicesandthe competencetousesuchinformationtoenhancehealth”[41] 10 Rootman&Gordon-Elbihbety “Theabilitytoaccess,understand,evaluateandcommunicateinformationasawaytopromote,maintain (2008) andimprovehealthinavarietyofsettingsacrossthelifecourse”[42] 11 Ishikawa&Yano(2008) “Theknowledge,skillsandabilitiesthatpertaintointeractionswiththehealthcaresystem”[14] 12 Mancuso(2008) “Aprocessthatevolvesoverone’slifetimeandencompassestheattributesofcapacity,comprehension,and communication.Theattributesofhealthliteracyareintegratedwithinandprecededbytheskills,strategies, andabilitiesembeddedwithinthecompetenciesneededtoattainhealthliteracy”[43] 13 AustralianBureauofStatistics “Theknowledgeandskillsrequiredtounderstandanduseinformationrelatingtohealthissuessuchas (2008) drugsandalcohol,diseasepreventionandtreatment,safetyandaccidentprevention,firstaid,emergencies, andstayinghealthy”[44] 14 Yostetal.(2009) “Thedegreetowhichindividualshavethecapacitytoreadandcomprehendhealth-relatedprintmaterial, identifyandinterpretinformationpresentedingraphicalformat(charts,graphsandtables),andperform arithmeticoperationsinordertomakeappropriatehealthandcaredecisions”[45] 15 Adamsetal.(2009) “Theabilitytounderstandandinterpretthemeaningofhealthinformationinwritten,spokenordigital formandhowthismotivatespeopletoembraceordisregardactionsrelatingtohealth”[22] 16 Adkinsetal.(2009) “Theabilitytoderivemeaningfromdifferentformsofcommunicationbyusingavarietyofskillsto accomplishhealth-relatedobjectives”[46] 17 Freedmanetal.(2009) “Thedegreetowhichindividualsandgroupscanobtainprocess,understand,evaluate,andactupon informationneededtomakepublichealthdecisionsthatbenefitthecommunity”[35] listening, verbal fluency, memory span and navigation. to function effectively in everyday situations, broadly Lee et al. [47] identify four interrelated factors: (1) dis- comparable with the content of “medical” health literacy ease and self-care knowledge; (2) health risk behavior; referred to above; (2) Interactive health literacy refers to (3) preventive care and physician visits; and (4) compli- more advanced cognitive and literacy skills which, ance with medication. While these defining elements of together with social skills, can be used to actively parti- health literacy vary considerably they all concern cogni- cipate in everyday situations, extract information and tive capabilities, skills and behaviors which reflect an derive meaning from different forms of communication, individual’s capacity to function in the role of a patient and apply this to changing circumstance; and (3) Criti- within the healthcare system. cal health literacy refers to more advanced cognitive Proponents of the population health literacy view, on skills which, together with social skills, can be applied to the other hand, extend the concept to include dimen- critically analyze information and use this to exert sions which go beyond individual competences and the greater control over life events and situations. The dif- medical context. The prototypical model is that of Nut- ferent typologies represent levels of knowledge and skills beam [36], which distinguishes between three typologies that progressively support greater autonomy and perso- of health literacy: (1) Functional health literacy refers to nal empowerment in health related decision-making, as the basic skills in reading and writing that are necessary well as engagement with a wider range of healthSørensenetal.BMCPublicHealth2012,12:80 Page5of13 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/80 Table 2The six clusters identified whencondensing the definitions from the literature review Competence/skills/ Action Information Objective Context Time abilities Skills Togainaccess Information Promoteandmaintain Varietyofsettings Across Possessionofrequisite Tounderstand Health goodhealth Thehealthcareenvironment thelife skills/Constellationof Touse information Tofunctioninthehealth Differenthealthcontexts course skills/Widerangeof Toperformbasic Information careenvironment Healthcaresetting Evolves skills readingand relatingto Tomakeappropriate Healthrelatedcontexts over Cognitiveskills numericaltasks health healthdecisions Theeverydaylifeathome,inthecommunity, lifetime Socialskills Toobtain Basichealth Acriticalempowerment attheworkplace,withinthehealthcaresystem, Personalskills Toprocess information strategytoincrease atthemarketplaceandwithinthepolitical Theability Toseekout Health-related people’scontrolover arena Thecapacity Tocomprehend print-material theirhealth HLalwaysrelatedtothecontextofthe Theknowledge Toevaluate Information Tomakeinformed specifictasksneededtobeaccomplished Thecompetencies Toread presentedin choices Motivation Tofilter graphicalform Reducehealthrisks Comprehension Tofind Health Increasequalityoflife Communication Toappraise informationin Toformsound Tocommunicate written,spoken judgments Tointerpret ordigitalform Toengageindemands Toidentify Differentforms ofdifferenthealth Toperform of contexts arithmetic communication Topromotehealth operations Concepts Toenhancehealth Toembraceor Services Toimprovehealth disregardactions Tomakeappropriate Toderivemeaning healthandcaredecisions Toact Toaccomplishhealth- Tomakesound relatedobjectives decisions/tomake Tomakepublichealth health-related decisionsthatbenefitthe decisions community Totake responsibility Topertain interactions Toattaincapacity, comprehension and communication knowledge that extends from personal health manage- skills necessary to obtain, process, evaluate, and act ment to the social determinants of health [52]. Manga- upon information that is needed to make public health nello [50] adds media literacy as the ability to critically decisions that benefit the community; an individual or evaluate media messages. Zarcadoolas et al. [38] distin- group should be able to obtain, evaluate, and utilize guish between fundamental literacy (skills and strategies public health information, identify public health aspects involved in reading, speaking, writing and interpreting of personal and community concerns, and access who is numbers); science literacy (the levels of competence with naming and framing public health problems and solu- science and technology); civic literacy (abilities that tions. (3) Civic orientation includes the skills and enable citizens to become aware of public issues and resources necessary to address health concerns through become involved in the decision-making process); and civic engagement; an individual or group should be able cultural literacy (the ability to recognize and use collec- to articulate the uneven distribution of burdens and tive beliefs, customs, world-view and social identity in benefits of the society, evaluate who benefits and who is order to interpret and act on health information). In a harmed by public health efforts, communicate current similar vein, Freedman et al. [35] identify three dimen- public health problems, and address public health pro- sions of public health literacy, each of which involves blems through civic action, leadership, and dialogue. corresponding competences: (1) Conceptual foundations Mancuso [43] emphasizes that health literacy is a pro- includes the basic knowledge and information needed to cess that evolves over a person’s lifetime and identify understand and take action on public health concerns; the attributes of health literacy to be capacity, compre- individuals and groups should be able to discuss core hension and communication. (1) The Capacity skills public health concepts, public health constructs and related to health literacy include gathering, analyzing, ecologic perspectives. (2) Critical skills relates to the and evaluating health information for credibility andSørensenetal.BMCPublicHealth2012,12:80 Page6of13 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/80 Table 3Conceptual models ofhealthliteracy Reference Dimensions Antecedents Consequences 1 Nutbeam -Functionalhealthliteracy Healthpromotionactions(education,social Individualbenefits (2000)[36] -Interactivehealthliteracy mobilization,advocacy) -Improvedknowledgeofrisks -Criticalhealthliteracy -Compliancewithprescribedactions.Improved capacitytoactindependentlyonknowledge -Improvedmotivationandself-confidence -Improvedindividualresiliencetoadversity Community/socialbenefits -Increasedparticipationinpopulationhealth programs -Improvedcapacitytoinfluencesocialnormsand interactwithsocialgroups. -Improvedcapacitytoactonsocialandeconomic determinantsofhealth -improvedcommunityempowerment 2 Leeetal. -Diseaseandself-care -Social-economicstatus -Healthstatus (2004)[47] knowledge. -Gender -Emergencycare -Healthriskbehavior -Ethnicity -Hospitalization -Preventivecareandphysician -Healthinsurancecoverage visits. -Diseaseseverity -Compliancewith -Incomediscrepancy medications. -Ethniccompositionofthecommunity 3 Instituteof -Culturalandconceptual -Education,cultureandlanguage. Healthoutcomesandcosts Medicine knowledge -Communicationandassessmentskillsof (2004)[8] -Listening peoplewithwhomindividualsinteractfor -Speaking health -Arithmeticalskills -Abilityofthemedia,themarketplace,and -Writingskills governmentalagenciestoprovidehealth -Readingskills informationinanappropriatemanner 4 Zarcadoolas -FundamentalliteracyScience -Healthstatus -Abilitytoapplyinformationtonovelsituations etal.(2005) literacy -Demographic,sociopolitical,psychosocial Abilitytoparticipateinpublicandprivate [38] -Civicliteracy andculturalfactors dialoguesabouthealth,medicine,scientific Culturalliteracy knowledgeandculturalbeliefs 5 Speros -Reading/numeracyskills -Literacy -Improvedself-reportedhealthstatus (2005)[48] -Comprehension -Health-relatedexperience. -Lowerhealthcarecosts -Capacitytousehealth -Increasedhealthknowledge informationindecisionmaking -Shorterhospitalization -Successfulfunctioningin Lessfrequentuseofhealthcareservices healthcareconsumerrole 6 Baker(2006) -Health-relatedprintliteracy -Health-relatedreadingfluency -Acquisitionofnewknowledge [49] -Health-relatedoralliteracy. -Health-relatedvocabulary -Morepositiveattitudes -Familiaritywithhealthconcepts -Greaterself-efficacyPositivehealthbehaviors Complexityanddifficultyoftheprinted -Betterhealthoutcomes andspokenmessagesinthehealthcare environment 7 Paashe- -Listening -SocioeconomicstatusOccupation -Accessandutilizationofhealthcare(influencedby Orlow -Verbalfluency -EmploymentstatusIncome patients’navigationskills,self-efficacyand &Wolf -Memoryspan -Socialsupport perceivedbarriers,andbysystem’scomplexity, (2007)[40] -Navigation. -Cultureandlanguage acutecareorientationandtiereddeliverymodel). -Education -Patient/providerinteractions(influencedpatients’ -Age knowledge,beliefsandparticipationindecision- -Race/ethnicityPersonalcompetences making,andbyproviders’communicationskills, suchasvision,hearing,verbalability, teachingability,timeandpatient-centeredcare). memoryandreasoning. Selfcare(influencedbypatients’motivation, problem-solving,self-efficacy,knowledge/skills,and bysupporttechnologies,massmedia,health educationandresources) 8 Kickbusch& -Functional -Educationsystem -Healthoutcomesandcosts Maag(2008) -Interactive -Health-caresystem [2] -Critical -Culture/homeandcommunity -Work -Politics MarketSørensenetal.BMCPublicHealth2012,12:80 Page7of13 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/80 Table 3Conceptual models ofhealthliteracy (Continued) 9 Mancuso -Capacity -Operationalcompetence -Healthcarecosts (2008)[43] -Comprehension -Interactivecompetence -Knowledgeofdiseasesandtreatments Communication -Autonomouscompetence -Self-managementskills -Informationalcompetence -Abilitytocareforchronicconditions -Contextualcompetence -Compliance -Culturalcompetence -Medicalormedicationtreatmenterrors -Accesstoanduseofhealthcareservices. -Useofexpensiveservicessuchasemergencycare andinpatientadmissions.Preventionandscreening health-promotingbehaviors Healthstatus,definedasphysicalillnessor perceptionsofillness,diseaseorimpairment 10 Manganello -Functionalhealthliteracy -Individualtraits(age,race,gender,cultural -Healthbehavior (2008)[50] -Interactivehealthliteracy background,cognitiveandphysical -Healthcosts -Criticalhealthliteracy abilities,socialskills) -Healthserviceuse Medialiteracy -Mediause -Peerandparentinfluences -Massmedia,theeducationsystemand thehealthsystem 11 Freedman -Conceptualfoundations Social,environmentalandpoliticalforces -Resolvesomeofsociety’smorepressinghealth etal.(2009) -Criticalskills issues [35] Civicorientation -Alleviatesocialinjustices. 12 VonWagner -Abilitytorelyonliteracyand -Epidemiologicalorstructural -Accessanduseofhealthcare etal.(2009) numeracyskillswhentheyare determinants -Patient-providerinteraction [51] requiredtosolveproblems -Individualinfluences -Managementofhealthandillness -Readingandarithmeticskills -Externalinfluences quality, working together, managing resources, seeking application (e.g., as a patient in healthcare, as a consu- guidance and support, developing and expressing a mer at the market, as a citizen in the political arena, or sense of self, creating and pursuing a vision and goals, as a member of the audience in relation to the media). and keeping pace with change. Oral language skills are Antecedents and consequences of health literacy also considered essential. Social skills and credentials Apart from the dimensions of health literacy, the con- such as reading, listening, analytical, decision-making, ceptual models summarized in Table 3 also give the and numerical abilities are important as well to advocate main antecedents and consequences of health literacy for oneself, to act on health information, and to negoti- outlined in the literature. ate and navigate within the health-care system. (2) Com- For the antecedents, most authors refer to demo- prehension is a complex process based on the effective graphic, psychosocial, and cultural factors, as well as to interaction of logic, language, and experience and is cru- more proximal factors such as general literacy, indivi- cial to the accurate interpretation of a myriad of infor- dual characteristics and prior experience with illness mation that is provided to the modern patient, such as and the healthcare system. Among the demographic and discharge instructions, consent forms, patient education social factors which impact on health literacy one notes materials, and medication directions. (3) Communication socioeconomic status, occupation, employment, income, is how thoughts, messages or information are exchanged social support, culture and language [40], environmental through speech, signals, writing or behavior. Communi- and political forces [35], and media use [50]. In addition, cation involves inputs, decoding, encoding output, and peer and parental influences may impact on the health feedback. Essential communication skills are reading literacy of adolescents. In terms of personal characteris- with understanding, conveying ideas in writing, speaking tics, health literacy is predicted by age, race, gender and so others can understand, listening actively, and obser- cultural background [50]; as well as by competences ving critically. such as vision, hearing, verbal ability, memory and rea- In conclusion, the range of factors that are considered soning [40], physical abilities and social skills [50], and as key components of health literacy is extensive, and meta-cognitive skills associated with reading, compre- there is a wide variation between conceptual models. hension, and numeracy [4,48,50]. The latter refers to the However, this diversity of views can to a large extent be level of overall literacy, defined as the capacity to use reduced to two dimensions, notably the core qualities of printed and written information to function in society, health literacy (e.g., basic or functional, interactive, and achieve one’s goals, and develop one’s knowledge and critical health literacy), and its scope and area of potential. Finally, Nutbeam [36] points out that healthSørensenetal.BMCPublicHealth2012,12:80 Page8of13 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/80 literacy is also a result of health promotion actions such labor market productivity contributing to, rather than as education, social mobilization and advocacy. withdrawing from, pension schemes. Similarly, healthier In terms of the consequences, a number of research- people use the health system less, and coupled with edu- ers pointed out that health literacy leads to improved cation and cognitive function, appropriately demand self-reported health status, lower healthcare costs, fewer health services. increased health knowledge, shorter hospitalization, and less frequent use of healthcare services [43,48,50,53]. An integrated conceptual model of health literacy According to Baker [49], these better health outcomes Whereas a number of conceptual models of health lit- are caused by the acquisition of new knowledge, more eracy have been presented in the literature, none of positive attitudes, greater self-efficacy, and positive these can be regarded as sufficiently comprehensive to health behaviors associated with higher health literacy. line up with the evolving health literacy definitions and Paashe-Orlow and Wolf [40] posit that health literacy with the competencies they imply [59]. This is probably influences three main factors which in turn have an due to the fact that attempts to conceptualize health lit- impact on health outcomes: (1) navigation skills, self- eracy have thus far failed to integrate the existing efficacy and perceived barriers influence the access and knowledge encompassing different perspectives on utilization of healthcare; (2) knowledge, beliefs and par- health literacy. Firstly, most of the existing conceptual ticipation in decision-making influence patient/provider models are not sufficiently grounded in theory in terms interactions; and (3) motivation, problem-solving, self- of the notions and concepts included. Secondly, very efficacy, and knowledge and skills influence self care. few models have integrated the components included in The relationship of health literacy to health outcomes “medical” and “public health” literacy models. The only according to these authors must be conceived as a step models which explicitly try to bridge the difference function with a threshold effect, rather than in a simple between both views are Nutbeam’s [36] and Manganel- linear fashion. People generally exist within a web of lo’s [50], whose dimension of functional literacy corre- social relationships; and below a certain level of func- sponds with the cognitive skills of medical health tion, much of the day-to-day detail of chronic disease literacy. Thirdly, while acknowledging that health lit- management often needs to be facilitated by others. eracy entails different dimensions, the majority of the While the interaction between health literacy and social existing models are rather static and do not explicitly support is likely to have complicated and subtle implica- account for the fact that health literacy is also a process, tions, the health impact of social effects has not been which involves the consecutive steps of accessing, fully elucidated in the context of health literacy [54]. understanding, processing and communicating informa- Nutbeam [36] distinguishes between individual and tion. Fourthly, while most conceptual models identify community or social benefits of health literacy. In terms the factors that influence health literacy and mention its of individual benefits, functional health literacy leads to impact on health service use, health costs and health an improved knowledge of risks and health services, and outcomes, the pathways linking health literacy to its compliance with prescribed actions; interactive health antecedents and consequences are not very clear. literacy to an improved capacity to act independently, Researchers could link conceptual models of health lit- an improved motivation and more self-confidence; and eracy more explicitly to established health promotion critical health literacy to improved individual resilience theories and models [59]. Finally, very few conceptual to social and economic adversity. In terms of commu- models of health literacy have been empirically vali- nity and social benefits, functional health literacy dated. To address these shortcomings, we propose an increases the participation in population health pro- integrated model of health literacy which captures the grams; interactive health literacy enhances the capacity main dimensions of the existing conceptual models to influence social norms and interact with social reviewed above (Figure 1). groups; and critical health literacy improves community The model combines the qualities of a conceptual empowerment and enhances the capacity to act on model outlining the main dimensions of health literacy social and economic determinants of health. Nutbeam’s (represented in the concentric oval shape in the middle conceptual framework has been applied in case studies of Figure 1), and of a logical model showing the proxi- focusing on topics of diarrhea [55], self-management in mal and distal factors which impact on health literacy, diabetes [56] and health promoting schools [57]. as well as the pathways linking health literacy to health Ratzan [58] links health literacy in the community to outcomes. the concept of social capital, arguing that health literate The core of the model shows the competencies related people live longer and have stronger incentives to invest to the process of accessing, understanding, appraising in developing their own and their children’s knowledge and applying health-related information. According to and skills. Healthier populations tend to have higher the ‘all inclusive’ definition this process requires fourSørensenetal.BMCPublicHealth2012,12:80 Page9of13 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/80 Figure1Integratedmodelofhealthliteracy–seeseparatefile. types of competencies: (1) Access refers to the ability to and numerical skills as well as their specific health lit- seek, find and obtain health information; (2) Understand eracy skillstoacquirethe necessaryinformation, under- refers to the ability to comprehend the health informa- standing this information, critically analyzing and tion that is accessed; (3) Appraise describes the ability appraising it, and acting independently to engage in to interpret, filter, judge and evaluate the health infor- actions overcoming personal, structural, social and eco- mation that has been accessed; and (4) Apply refers to nomical barriers to health. As contextual demands the ability to communicate and use the information to changeovertime,andthecapacitytonavigatethehealth make a decision to maintain and improve health. Each system depends on cognitive and psychosocial develop- of these competences represents a crucial dimension of mentaswellasonpreviousandcurrentexperiences,the health literacy, requires specific cognitive qualities and skillsandcompetenciesofhealthliteracydevelopduring depends on the quality of the information provided [60]: thelifecourseandarelinkedtolifelonglearning. obtaining and accessing health information depends on The frameworks associated with the three domains understanding, timing and trustworthiness; understand- represent a progression from an individual towards a ing the information depends on expectations, perceived population perspective. As such, the model integrates utility, individualization of outcomes, and interpretation the “medical” conceptualization of health literacy with of causalities; processing and appraisal of the informa- the broader “public health” perspective. Placing greater tion depends on the complexity, jargon and partial emphasis on heath literacy outside of healthcare settings understandings of the information; and effective com- has the potential to impact on preventative health and munication depends on comprehension. The compe- reduce pressures on health systems. tences also incorporate the qualities of functional, The combination of the four dimensions referring to interactive and critical health literacy as proposed by health information processing with the three levels of Nutbeam [36]. domains yields a matrix with 12 dimensions of health This process generates knowledge and skills which literacy as illustrated in Table 4. enable a person to navigate three domains of the health continuum:beingillorasapatientinthehealthcareset- Four dimensions of health literacy in the domain of ting, asa personatriskofdisease inthe disease preven- healthcare, i.e., the ability to access information on tion system, and as a citizen in relation to the health medical or clinical issues, to understand medical promotioneffortsinthecommunity,theworkplace,the information, to interpret and evaluate medical infor- educational system, the political arena and the market mation, and to make informed decisions on medical place.Goingthroughthestepsofthehealthliteracypro- issues and comply with medical advice. cessineachofthesethreedomainsequipspeopletotake Four dimensions of health literacy in the domain of controlovertheirhealthbyapplyingtheirgeneralliteracy disease prevention, notably the ability to accessSørensenetal.BMCPublicHealth2012,12:80 Page10of13 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/80 Table 4The matrixwithfour dimensions ofhealthliteracy appliedto three healthdomains Access/obtaininformation Understandinformationrelevant Process/appraise Apply/useinformation relevanttohealth tohealth informationrelevanttohealth relevanttohealth Health Abilitytoaccessinformation Abilitytounderstandmedical Abilitytointerpretandevaluate Abilitytomakeinformed care onmedicalorclinicalissues informationandderivemeaning medicalinformation decisionsonmedicalissues Disease Abilitytoaccessinformation Abilitytounderstandinformationon Abilitytointerpretandevaluate Abilitytomakeinformed prevention onriskfactorsforhealth riskfactorsandderivemeaning informationonriskfactorsfor decisionsonriskfactorsfor health health Health Abilitytoupdateoneselfon Abilitytounderstandinformationon Abilitytointerpretandevaluate Abilitytomakeinformed promotion determinantsofhealthin determinantsofhealthinthesocial informationonhealth decisionsonhealth thesocialandphysical andphysicalenvironmentandderive determinantsinthesocialand determinantsinthesocialand environment meaning physicalenvironment physicalenvironment information on risk factors for health, to understand recognizing and using collective beliefs, customs, world- information on risk factors and derive meaning, to views, and social identity relationships) and civic literacy interpret and evaluate information on risk factors, (i.e., knowledge about sources of information and about and to make informed decisions on risk factors for agendas and how to interpret them, enabling citizens to health. engage in dialogue and decision-making). According to Four dimensions in the domain of health promotion, Mancuso [43], an individual must have certain skills and notably the ability to regularly update oneself on abilities to obtain competence in health literacy, and determinants of health in the social and physical identifies six dimensions that are considered as neces- environment, to comprehend information on deter- sary antecedents of health literacy, namely operational, minants of health in the social and physical environ- interactive, autonomous, informational, contextual, and ment and derive meaning, to interpret and evaluate cultural competence. information on determinants, of health in the social Health literacy in turn influences health behavior and and physical environment, and the ability to make the use of health services, and thereby will also impact informed decisions on health determinants in the on health outcomes and on the health costs in society. social and physical environment. At an individual level, ineffective communication due to poor health literacy will result in errors, poor quality, Health literacy is in our understanding regarded an and risks to patient safety of the healthcare services asset for improving people’s empowerment within the [61]. At a population level, health literate persons are domains of healthcare, disease prevention and health able to participate in the ongoing public and private dia- promotion. logues about health, medicine, scientific knowledge and In addition to the components of health literacy cultural beliefs. Thus, the benefits of health literacy proper, the model in Figure 1 also shows the main ante- impact the full range of life’s activities–home, work, cedents and consequences of health literacy. Among the society and culture [34,38,39]. Advancing health literacy factors which impact on health literacy, a distinction is will progressively allow for greater autonomy and perso- made between more distal factors, including societal and nal empowerment, and the process of health literacy can environmental determinants (e.g., demographic situa- be seen as a part of an individual’s development towards tion, culture, language, political forces, societal systems), improved quality of life. In the population, it may also and proximal factors, which are more concerned with lead to more equity and sustainability of changes in personal determinants (e.g., age, gender, race, socioeco- public health. Consequently, low health literacy can be nomic status, education, occupation, employment, addressed by educating persons to become more resour- income, literacy) and situational determinants (e.g. social ceful (i.e., increasing their personal health literacy), and support, family and peer influences, media use and phy- by making the task or situation less demanding, (i.e., sical environment). Health literacy is strongly associated improving the “readability of the system”). with educational attainment [50], as well as with overall literacy [34,38,39]. Fundamental literacy affects a wide Discussion range of cognitive, behavioral, and societal skills and In this article we have we have presented a working abilities. It should be distinguished from other specific definition of health literacy which represents the essence literacy, such as science literacy (i.e., the ability to com- of the definitions of this concept as given in the litera- prehend technical complexity, understanding of com- ture. Furthermore a new conceptual model has been mon technology, and an understanding that scientific developed as a result of the review of existing health lit- uncertainty is to be expected), cultural literacy (i.e., eracy concepts. While the literature indicates that healthSørensenetal.BMCPublicHealth2012,12:80 Page11of13 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/80 literacy refers to the competences of people to meet the pathways linking health literacy to health outcomes. complex demands of health in modern society [2,3,62] Specifically, the model identifies 12 dimensions of health the exact nature of these competences is still debated. literacy, referring to the competencies related to acces- One perspective is that they refer to a series of indivi- sing, understanding, appraising and applying health dual cognitive skills and abilities applied in a medical information in the domains of healthcare, disease pre- context; the other perspective sees a broader range of vention and health promotion, respectively. competencies applied in the social realm. The first is By integrating existing definitions and conceptualiza- referred to as “medical health literacy” [5], “patient tions of health literacy into an encompassing model health literacy” [14], or “clinical health literacy” [63]; the outlining the main dimensions of health literacy as well second as “public health literacy” [35]. Nutbeam [52] as its determinants and the pathways to health out- refers to the opposing medical and public health views comes, this model has a heuristic value in its own right. on health literacy as respectively a “clinical risk”, and a More importantly, however, it can also support the “personal asset” approach, and points out that they are practice of healthcare, disease prevention and health rooted in the different traditions of clinical care, and promotion by serving as a conceptual basis to develop adult learning and health promotion, respectively. As health literacy enhancing interventions. Moreover, it can both perspectives are important and useful to enable a contribute to the empirical work on health literacy by better understanding of health communication processes serving as a basis for the development of measurement in clinical and community settings, any definition of tools. As currently available tools to measure health lit- health literacy needs to integrate both views. The pro- eracy do not capture all aspects of the concept as dis- posed ‘all inclusive’ definition is adaptable and includes cussed in the literature, there is a need to develop new the public health perspective as well as the individual tools to assess health literacy, reflecting health literacy perspective. definitions and accompanying conceptual models for While originating from the study of the reading and public health. By following a concept validation numerical skills that are necessary to function ade- approach, scales can be developed to assess the dimen- quately in the healthcare environment, the concept of sions outlined in the conceptual model presented in this health literacy has expanded in meaning to include paper. This will not only produce a comprehensive information-seeking, decision-making, problem-solving, measure of health literacy, reflecting the state of the art critical thinking, and communication, along with a mul- of the field and applicable for social research and in titude of social, personal, and cognitive skills that are public health practice, but also serve to validate the imperative to function in the health-system [49,52,59]. It conceptual model and thus contribute to the under- has now diffused into the realm of culture, context, and standing of health literacy. language [49,52,59]. Although some authors have argued that health literacy is merely “new wine in old bottles”, Acknowledgements and is basically the repackaging of concepts central to TheauthorsthankallpartnersintheHLS-EUconsortiumforcontributingto the ideological theory and practice of health promotion thedevelopmentoftheconceptualmodelandthecontentofthisarticle. [64], enhancing health literacy is increasingly recognized HLS-EUConsortiummembers MaastrichtUniversity,theNetherlands:HelmutBrand,Stephanvanden as a public health goal and a determinant of health. As BrouckeandKristineSørensen new health literacy frameworks have emerged to clarify NationalSchoolofPublicHealth,Greece:DemosthenesAgrafiodis,Elizabeth the deeper meaning of health literacy, its contribution to IoannidisandBarbaraKondilis UniversityCollegeofDublin,NationalUniversityofIreland:GerardineDoyle, health, and the social, environmental, and cultural fac- JamesFullamandKennethCafferkey tors that influence health literacy skills in a variety of LudwigBoltzmannGesellschaftGmbH,Austria:JürgenPelikanandFlorian populations, there is a need for an integration of diver- Röethlin InstytutKardiologii,Poland:ZofiaSlonska ging definitions, conceptual frameworks and models of UniversityofMurcia,Spain:MariaFalcon health literacy. MedicalUniversity-Sofia,Bulgaria:KanchoTchamovandAlexZhekov NationalInstituteofPublicHealthandtheEnvironment,TheNetherlands: MariëlDroomers,JantineSchuit,IrisvanderHeideandEllenUiters Conclusion NRWCentreforHealth,Germany:GudulaWardandMonikaMensing The conceptual framework presented in this paper pro- Funding vides this integration in the form of a comprehensive TheHLS-EUprojectandrelatedresearcharesupportedbygrant2007-113 fromtheEuropeanCommission. model. Based on a systematic review of existing defini- tions and conceptualizations of health literacy, it com- Authordetails bines the qualities of a conceptual model outlining the 1DepartmentofInternationalHealth,ResearchSchoolofPrimaryCareand PublicHealth,MaastrichtUniversity,Maastricht,TheNetherlands.2Université most comprehensive dimensions of health literacy, and CatholiquedeLouvain,Louvain-la-Neuve,Belgium.3UniversityCollege of a logical model, showing the proximal and distal fac- Dublin,NationalUniversityofIreland,Dublin,Ireland.4LudwigBoltzmann tors which impact on health literacy as well as the InstituteHealthPromotionResearch,Vienna,Austria.5NationalInstituteofSørensenetal.BMCPublicHealth2012,12:80 Page12of13 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/80 Cardiology,Warsaw,Poland.6TheHLS-EUConsortium,MaastrichtUniversity, 23. LeeTW,KangSJ,LeeHJ,HyunSI:Testinghealthliteracyskillsinolder Maastricht,theNetherlands. Koreanadults.PatientEducCouns2009,75(3):302-307. 24. 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