Health literacy means minimum, realistic outputs not optimal or behavioural outcomes

• In Event: Round-Table Session 5
  In Round-table Session: Health Literacy, Life Skills, Social Inclusion: Defining Minimum Outputs for Core Health Personal-Social Development (HPSD Education)

Proposal

Almost all of the research and practice in health-personal-social development (HPSD) education has been funded by and therefore focused on specific health or social issues. Consequently, the research and instructional programs has advocated for and tested optimal sets of learning outputs for these specific issues/topics rather than a minimal set of objectives that can still influence behaviours.
An example of this is “health literacy”, which is a sub-set of the optimal health knowledge, skills, attitudes, etc. that can be achieved through health education. Some discussions of HL have confused it/inflated it with larger, optimal levels of learning. HL is the basic learning needed, not the optimal. It is a product primarily from health education (with some adjustments in the services and social/economic environment to help students practice/use what they have learned. It is different than health promotion, which is aimed at improving overall health with multiple types of interventions.
This confusion about health literacy extends across most of the health (and social topics) that schools are asked to teach. There is little or no alignment of the general skills that underpin instructional programs that are most often developed on a topic by topic basis. There is little research defining the minimum levels of functional knowledge, specific skills and beliefs/attitudes that can lead to behaviour change.Schools are expected to graduate students who can read but are not held accountable for their reading habits later in life. Yet, this is often the measure used to evaluate health education programs. This presentation will discuss this urgent need to define realistic outputs for health, personal and social development education.

Author

• Doug McCall, International School Health Network