Health literacy: strengthening agency or changing structures?

Excerpt

Health literacy, according to the Nutbeam’s definition, comprises “the cognitive and social skills which determine the motivation and ability of individuals to gain access to understand and use information in ways which promote and maintain good health” (Nutbeam 1998). Accordingly, the US Institute of Medicine lists “cultural and conceptual knowledge, listening, speaking, arithmetical, writing, and reading skills” as elements of health literacy (Nielsen-Bohlman et al. 2004). Different skills may be needed depending on the particular context (Dermota et al. 2013; Ackermann Rau et al. 2014). Is health literacy thus a clearly defined and non-controversial issue? Not quite. …