International Handbook of Health Literacy: Research, Practice and Policy across the Life-Span

Ullrich Bauer · Paulo Pinheiro · Diane Levin-Zamir · Orkan Okan · Kristine Sørensen

Jul 2019 · Policy Press

About this ebook

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. Health literacy addresses a range of social dimensions of health, including knowledge, navigation and communication, as well as individual and organizational skills for accessing, understanding, evaluating and using information. Particularly over the past decade, health literacy has globally become a major public health concern as an asset for promoting health, wellbeing and sustainable development.

This comprehensive handbook provides an invaluable overview of current international thinking about health literacy, highlighting cutting edge research, policy and practice in the field. With a diverse team of contributors, the book addresses health literacy across the life-span and offers insights from different populations and settings. Providing a wide range of major findings, the book outlines current discourse in the field and examines necessary future dialogues and new perspectives.

About the author

Orkan Okan is Scientist at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Health Literacy Research based in the Faculty of Educational Science at Bielefeld University, Germany, with interest in health literacy in children and adolescents.

Ullrich Bauer is Professor of Socialisation Research and Head of the Centre for Prevention and Intervention in Childhood and Adolescence and the Interdisciplinary Centre for Health Literacy Research at Bielefeld University, Germany.

Diane Levin-Zamir is the National Director - Department of Health Promotion in Clalit Health Services, Associate Professor at the University of Haifa, School of Public Health, Israel, and Co-convener of IUHPE Global Working Group on Health Literacy.

Paulo Pinheiro is Senior Researcher at the Faculty of Educational Science, Bielefeld University, Germany.

Kristine Sørensen is Founding Director of the Global Health Literacy Academy. She is the first President of the International Health Literacy Association, Chair of Health Literacy Europe and Advisor to the WHO.