The imperative to develop health literacy: An ethical evaluation of HealthLit4Kids. 2023

Claire Emma Otten, and David Moltow, and Nenagh Kemp, and Rose Enid Nash
School of Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia.

An imperative exists to promote health literacy (HL) development in today's young people. Included in curricula worldwide, health literacy has been recognised as a social determinant in its own right, which has the potential to redress inequity and positively impact health and educational outcomes. While it has been shown that schools provide an ideal setting to support HL development, available evidence suggests that health may be undertaught in primary schools, and further resources are required to support educators' inclusion of HL in their lessons. The aims of this paper were to (1) highlight the ethical imperative to promote HL through schools and (2) provide an ethical evaluation of an existing HL intervention. Spike's (2018) four principles for public health ethics were employed as a framework for evaluating a program's ethical status and suitability in the school setting. In this paper, one program, HealthLit4Kids, is evaluated according to Spike's framework, and shown to be an ethically acceptable approach to foster HL in young people. These results model how other HL programs may be evaluated and offer critical insights concerning how HL could be promoted in an ethically acceptable manner in the classroom.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D003479 Curriculum A course of study offered by an educational institution. Curricula,Short-Term Courses,Course, Short-Term,Courses, Short-Term,Short Term Courses,Short-Term Course
D006293 Health Promotion Encouraging consumer behaviors most likely to optimize health potentials (physical and psychosocial) through health information, preventive programs, and access to medical care. Health Campaigns,Promotion of Health,Wellness Programs,Promotional Items,Campaign, Health,Campaigns, Health,Health Campaign,Health Promotions,Item, Promotional,Items, Promotional,Program, Wellness,Programs, Wellness,Promotion, Health,Promotional Item,Promotions, Health,Wellness Program
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000293 Adolescent A person 13 to 18 years of age. Adolescence,Youth,Adolescents,Adolescents, Female,Adolescents, Male,Teenagers,Teens,Adolescent, Female,Adolescent, Male,Female Adolescent,Female Adolescents,Male Adolescent,Male Adolescents,Teen,Teenager,Youths
D012574 Schools Educational institutions. Primary Schools,Schools, Secondary,Secondary Schools,Primary School,School,School, Primary,School, Secondary,Schools, Primary,Secondary School
D057220 Health Literacy Degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions. Literacy, Health

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