Health 'is not rocket science': the general, nutritional, and oral health literacy of Portuguese adolescents

Almeida, Cristina Vaz de; Costa, Vânia; Montaño Rodríguez, Sandra Lucia; Rodrigues, Patrícia; Rodrigues, Manuela; Ribeiro Reis, Bruno Ribeiro; Belim, Célia

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.21/22054

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Authors

Almeida, Cristina Vaz de

Costa, Vânia

Montaño Rodríguez, Sandra Lucia

Rodrigues, Patrícia

Rodrigues, Manuela

Ribeiro Reis, Bruno Ribeiro

Belim, Célia

Abstract(s)

Health literacy is a European public health challenge that should be taken seriously by policymakers, and the health literacy agenda in Europe needs to be accelerated. The World Health Organization (WHO) considers health literacy to be the level of knowledge, social skills, confidence, motivation, and competence to access, understand, and appraise health information. It comprises a set of strategies to improve health and well-being across the lifespan, from individual health literacy to organizational and public health literacy. Health literacy development begins in childhood and adolescence, where it should be supported in an integrated, inclusive, and multidisciplinary approach, promoting and developing competencies and, therefore, knowledge, skills, and attributes. Health literacy encompasses different areas of health, such as oral health and nutrition. In Europe, eight countries participated in the European health literacy questionnaire (HLS-EU 12) in 2014: Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain. Among the results obtained with random samples in the European population, at least one in ten (12%) registered insufficient health literacy, and nearly one in two (47%) had limited (insufficient or problematic) health literacy. The distribution of levels differed substantially across countries (29–62%). The HLS-EU contains several questions specifically about food and nutrition, but only in the HLS-PT, translated by Saboga-Nunes et al. and applied in Portugal, where a concern about oral health, including nutrition, is evident.

Keywords

Health literacy Health inequalities Oral health Nutritional health Portugal

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.21/22054

Citation

Almeida CV, Costa V, Montaño Rodríguez SL, Rodrigues P, Rodrigues M, Reis BM, et al. Health ‘is not rocket science’: the general, nutritional, and oral health literacy of Portuguese adolescents. In: Global perspectives on children’s health literacy: intersections between health, education and community. Springer; 2024. p. 191-204.