Recording of the EVPOP webinar on health literacy policies
The guide “Health literacy policies – how can they be developed and implemented?” was presented at a webinar on Dec 6 2023. Besides the presentation of the guide, five countries provided a “reality check” of how health literacy policies were developed in their countries. The long version of the guide will be published on the M-POHL website at the end of January. The recording of the webinar can be found HERE.
As health literacy is considered critical to the achievement of health, and limited health literacy is still a widespread phenomenon, the topic is steadily gaining more interest from policy- and decision-makers. To meet the growing demand of decision-makers, a policy guide “Health literacy policies – how can they be developed and implemented?” was initiated to support policy-/decision-makers and administrators in implementing effective policies and actions to improve health literacy of the population on a national level. It is a product of M-POHL, initiated and sponsored by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health together with WHO/Europe and the Austrian National Public Health Institute.
Norway
The Norwegian team has published a national report on their piloting experience with the OHL-hos tool. The report is in Norwegian with an English summary on page 5 – 6.
France
National HLS19 reports
- Touzani, Rajae; Rouquette, Alexandra; Schultz, Emilien; Allaire, Cécile; Carrieri, Patrizia; Mancini, Julien; Hardouin, Jean-Benoit (2024): Psychometric validation of the French version of two scales measuring general (HLS19-Q12) and navigational (HLS19-NAV) health literacy using the Rasch model. In: BMC Public Health 24/1:3079. https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-024-20504-x
- Touzani R, Allaire C, Schultz E, Ousseine Y, Dembélé E, Rigal L, Vandentorren S, Guillemin F, Rouquette A, Mancini J. Littératie en santé : rapport de l’étude Health Literacy Survey France 2020-2021. Saint-Maurice: Santé publique France, 2024. 99 p. Disponible à partir de l’URL : https://www.santepubliquefrance.fr et https://sesstim.univamu.fr/fr/projet/hls19
- Infographic on national results: Littératie en santé. Les chi res clés de l’étude HLS en France. Source: Littératie en santé. Rapport de l’étude Health literacy survey France 2020-2021
Journal publications:
Slovenia
National HLS19 reports
- Health literacy of Slovenian adults. Results of the Slovenian Health Literacy Survey (HLS-SI19)
Journal Publications
Lubej, Maruša; Kirbiš, Andrej (2025): Why does health literacy matter, and for whom? Explaining the differentiating impact of health literacy on vaccine attitudes. In: Frontiers in Psychology 16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1470654
Articles on HLS19
Arriaga, Miguel; Francisco, Rita; Nogueira, Paulo; Oliveira, Jorge; Silva, Carlota; Câmara, Gisele; Sørensen, Kristine; Dietscher, Christina; Costa, Andreia (2022): Health literacy in Portugal: results of the health literacy population survey project 2019–2021. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19/7:4225. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/7/4225
Baron-Epel, Orna; Link, Thomas; Griebler, Robert; Bøggild, Henrik; Berens, Eva-Maria; Bíró, Éva; Coy, Deirdre; De Gani, Saskia Maria; Schaeffer, Doris; Sørensen, Kristine; Le, Christopher; Lopatina, Maria; Rowlands, Gillian; Touzani, Rajae; Van den Broucke, Stephan; Vincze, Ferenc; Vrdelja, Mitja; Vrbovsek, Sanja; Levin-Zamir, Diane (2025): Pathways of how health literacy and social support are associated with health outcomes in 17 European countries: Results of mediation analyses. In: Public Health 241/:12-12-18. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0033350625000538
Berens, Eva-Maria; Klinger, Julia; Carol, Sarah; Schaeffer, Doris (2022): Differences in health literacy domains among migrants and their descendants in Germany. Frontiers in public health https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.988782
Bíró, Éva; Vincze, Ferenc; Nagy-Pénzes, Gabriella; Ádány, Róza (2023): Investigation of the relationship of general and digital health literacy with various health-related outcomes. Frontiers in public health 11 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1229734
Breyton, Martin; Schultz, Émilien; Rouquette, Alexandra; Mancini, Julien (2023): Information overload in the context of COVID-19 pandemic: A repeated cross-sectional study. Patient education and counseling 110/:107672. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/5/2611
Cadeddu, Chiara; Regazzi, Luca; Bonaccorsi, Guglielmo; Rosano, Aldo; Unim, Brigid; Griebler, Robert; Link, Thomas; De Castro, Paola; D’Elia, Roberto; Mastrilli, Valeria (2022): The determinants of vaccine literacy in the Italian population: results from the health literacy survey 2019. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19/8:4429. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/8/
Cissé, Bakary; Rosano, Aldo; Griebler, Robert; Unim, Brigid; Lorini, Chiara; Bonaccorsi, Guglielmo; Vrdelja, Mitja; Fégueux, Sophie; Mancini, Julien; Van den Broucke, Stephan (2025): Exploring vaccination literacy and vaccine hesitancy in seven European countries: results from the HLS19 population survey. In: Vaccine: X 25/:100671. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvacx.2025.100671
Costa, A.; Feteira-Santos, R.; Alarcao, V.; Henriques, A.; Madeira, T.; Virgolino, A.; Arriaga, M.; Nogueira, P. J. (2023): Health Literacy among Older Adults in Portugal and Associated Sociodemographic, Health and Healthcare-Related Factors. In: Int J Environ Res Public Health 20/5: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/5/4172
Drapkina, Oxana; Molosnov, Artemii; Tyufilin, Denis; Lopatina, Maria; Medvedev, Viktor; Chigrina, Valeriya; Kobyakova, Olga; Deev, Ivan; Griese, Lennert; Schaeffer, Doris; Griebler, Robert; Tuillet, Polina; Kontsevaya, Anna (2025): Measuring Navigational Health Literacy in Russia: Validation of the HLS19-NAV-RU. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 22/2:156. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph22020156
Drapkina, Oxana; Molosnov, Artemii; Tyufilin, Denis; Lopatina, Maria; Medvedev, Viktor; Chigrina, Valeriya; Kobyakova, Olga; Deev, Ivan; Griese, Lennert; Schaeffer, Doris; Griebler, Robert; Tuillet, Polina; Kontsevaya, Anna (2025): Measuring Navigational Health Literacy in Russia: Validation of the HLS19-NAV-RU. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 22/2:156. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph22020156
Finbråten, Hanne Søberg; Nowak, Peter; Griebler, Robert; Bíró, Éva; Vrdelja, Mitja; Charafeddine, Rana; Griese, Lennert; Bøggild, Henrik; Schaeffer, Doris; Link, Thomas (2022): The HLS19-COM-P, a New Instrument for Measuring Communicative Health Literacy in Interaction with Physicians: Development and Validation in Nine European Countries. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19/18:11592. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191811592
Gille, Svea; Griese, Lennert; Schaeffer, Doris (2021): Preferences and Experiences of People with Chronic Illness in Using Different Sources of Health Information: Results of a Mixed-Methods Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18/24:13185. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/24/13185
Griebler, R.; Link, T.; Schutze, D.; Straßmayr, C. (2025): Gesundheitskompetenz messen: Methoden und Instrumente zur Erfassung der allgemeinen Gesundheitskompetenz bei Erwachsenen [Measuring health literacy: methods and tools for assessing general health literacy in adults]. In: Bundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00103-025-04010-y
Griese, Lennert; Berens, Eva-Maria; Nowak, Peter; Pelikan, Jürgen M; Schaeffer, Doris (2020): Challenges in Navigating the Health Care System: Development of an Instrument Measuring Navigation Health Literacy. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17/16:5731. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/16/5731
Griese, Lennert; Finbråten, Hanne S; Francisco, Rita; De Gani, Saskia M; Griebler, Robert; Guttersrud, Øystein; Jaks, Rebecca; Le, Christopher; Link, Thomas; Silva da Costa, Andreia (2022): HLS19-NAV—Validation of a New Instrument Measuring Navigational Health Literacy in Eight European Countries. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19/21:13863. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192113863
Griese, Lennert; Schaeffer, Doris; Berens, Eva-Maria (2022): Navigational health literacy among people with chronic illness. Chronic Illness 19/1. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/17423953211073368
Griese, Lennert; Schaeffer, Doris (2025): Health literacy and chronic disease: a comparison of somatic and mental illness. Frontiers in public health 13. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1523723/full#ref17
Israel, F. E. A.; Vincze, F.; Adany, R.; Biro, E. (2025): Communicative health literacy with physicians in healthcare services- results of a Hungarian nationwide survey. In: BMC Public Health 25/1:390 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-21590-1
Khoury, Georges; Ward, Jeremy K; Mancini, Julien; Gagneux-Brunon, Amandine; Luong Nguyen, Liem Binh (2024): Health Literacy and Health Care System Confidence as Determinants of Attitudes to Vaccines in France: Representative Cross-Sectional Study. In: JMIR Public Health and Surveillance 10:e45837. doi: 10.2196/45837
Klinger, Julia; Berens, Eva-Maria; Carol, Sarah; Schaeffer, Doris (2023): Gesundheitskompetenz von Personen mit ex-sowjetischem und türkischem Migrationshintergrund in Deutschland (Health Literacy of People with Former Soviet Union and Turkish Migration Background in Germany). Gesundheitswesen 85(10): 887-894. https://www.thieme-connect.de/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/a-2035-9107
Klinger, Julia; Berens, Eva-Maria; Schaeffer, Doris (2023): Health literacy and the role of social support in different age groups: results of a German cross-sectional survey. BMC Public Health 23/1:2259. https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-023-17145-x
Kučera, Zdeněk; Svačina, Štěpán; Šteflová, Alena (2023): Changes in the level of health literacy in Czechia between 2015 and 2020. Casopis lekaru ceskych 162/2-3:84-92
Le, Christopher; Guttersrud, Øystein; Levin-Zamir, Diane; Griebler, Robert; Finbråten, Hanne Søberg (2024): Associations between digital health literacy and health system navigating abilities among Norwegian adolescents: validating the HLS19-DIGI scale using Rasch modeling. In: BMC Public Health 24/1:1-11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-19405-w
Le, C.; Soberg Finbraten, H.; Griebler, R.; Levin-Zamir, D.; Guttersrud, O. (2025): Ability to Utilize Digital Health Services: Validation of the Digital HealthCare Scale in Adolescents and Young Adults. In: Health Lit Res Pract 9/1:e19-e28. https://doi.org/10.3928/24748307-20241204-01
Levin-Zamir, Diane; Van den Broucke, Stephan; Bíró, Éva; Bøggild, Henrik; Bruton, Lucy; De Gani, Saskia Maria; Søberg Finbråten, Hanne; Gibney, Sarah; Griebler, Robert; Griese, Lennert; Guttersrud, Øystein; Klocháňová, Zuzana; Kucera, Zdenek; Le, Christopher; Link, Thomas; Mancini, Julien; Miksova, Dominika; Schaeffer, Doris; Ribeiro da Silva, Carlota; Sørensen, Kristine; Straßmayr, Christa; Telo de Arriaga, Miguel; Vrdelja, Mitja; Pelikan, Jürgen (2025): HLS19-DIGI - a new instrument for measuring digital health literacy: development, validation and associations with determinants and health outcomes in 13 countries. In: Frontiers in public health 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1472706
Lopatina, M; Popovich, M; Kontsevaya, A; Drapkina, O (2021): Determinants of health literacy: The results of the first population survey in the Russian Federation. Profil Meditsina 24/:57-64
Lopatina, Maria; Berens, Eva-Maria; Klinger, Julia; Levin-Zamir, Diane; Kostareva, Uliana; Aringazina, Altyn; Drapkina, Oxana; Pelikan, Jürgen M (2022): Adaptation of the Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (HLS19-Q) for Russian-Speaking Populations—International Collaboration across Germany, Israel, Kazakhstan, Russia, and the USA. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19/6:3572. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/6/3572
Lubej, Maruša; Kirbiš, Andrej (2025): Why does health literacy matter, and for whom? Explaining the differentiating impact of health literacy on vaccine attitudes. In: Frontiers in Psychology 16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1470654
McCaskill, Angela; Gasch-Gallen, Angel; Montero-Marco, Jesica (2024): Measuring general health literacy using the HLS19-Q12 in specialty consultations in Spain. In: BMC Public Health 24/1: https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-024-20710-7
McCaskill, A.; Gasch-Gallen, A.; Montero-Marco, J. (2024): The effect of nurse health literacy interventions on patient health literacy scores in specialty consultations: a quasi-experimental study. In: BMC Nurs 23/1:786. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s12912-024-02447-1.pdf
McCaskill, A.; Gasch-Gallen, A.; Montero-Marco, J. (2024): Validation of the Spanish version of the Health Literacy Survey (HLS19-Q12) in secondary care specialty consultations. In: Public Health 237/:116-121. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0033350624004049
Metanmo, Salvatore; Finbråten, Hanne Søberg; Bøggild, Henrik; Nowak, Peter; Griebler, Robert; Guttersrud, Øystein; Bíró, Éva; Brigid, Unim; Charafeddine, Rana; Griese, Lennert; Kucera, Zdenek; Le, Christopher; Schaeffer, Doris; Vrdelja, Mitja; Mancini, Julien; & The HLS19 Consortium (2024): Communicative health literacy and associated variables in nine European countries: results from the HLS19 survey. Scientific Reports 14/1. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-79327-w
Pelikan, Jürgen M.; Link, Thomas; Straßmayr, Christa; Waldherr, Karin; Alfers, Tobias; Bøggild, Henrik; Griebler, Robert; Lopatina, Maria; Mikšová, Dominika; Nielsen, Marie Germund; Peer, Sandra; Vrdelja, Mitja (2022): Measuring Comprehensive, General Health Literacy in the General Adult Population: The Development and Validation of the HLS19-Q12 Instrument in Seventeen Countries. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19/21:14129. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/21/14129
Petrova-Geretto, Elisaveta Danailova; Yanakieva, Antoniya; Vodenicharova, Aleksandrina (2023): HEALTH LITERACY: A CALL FOR ACTION FOR A JUST AND EGALITARIAN SOCIETY. SCIENCE International Journal 2/1:37-40. https://scienceij.com/index.php/sij/article/view/8
Rosano, Aldo; Lorini, Chiara; Unim, Brigid; Griebler, Robert; Cadeddu, Chiara; Regazzi, Luca; Galeone, Daniela; Palmieri, Luigi (2022): Coronavirus-related health literacy: a cross-sectional study during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19/7:3807. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/7/3807
Schaeffer, Doris; Klinger, Julia; Berens, Eva-Maria; Gille, Svea; Griese, Lennert; Vogt, Dominique; Hurrelmann, Klaus (2021): Gesundheitskompetenz der Bevölkerung in Deutschland vor und während der Corona Pandemie. (Health Literacy in Germany before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic). Thieme Verlag: Stuttgart.
Schaeffer, Doris; Berens, Eva-Maria; Vogt, Dominique; Gille, Svea; Griese, Lennert; Klinger, Julia; Hurrelmann, Klaus (2021): Health Literacy in Germany: Findings of a Representative Follow-up Survey. Deutsches Arzteblatt international 118/43:723. https://www.aerzteblatt.de/int/archive/article/221711
Schaeffer, Doris; Gille, Svea; Berens, Eva-Maria; Griese, Lennert; Klinger, Julia; Vogt, Dominique; Hurrelmann, Klaus (2023): Digitale Gesundheitskompetenz der Bevölkerung in Deutschland: Ergebnisse des HLS-GER 2. Das Gesundheitswesen 85/04:323-331. https://www.thieme-connect.de/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/a-1670-7636
Schaeffer, Doris; Griese, Lennert; Klinger, Julia (2023): Navigationale Gesundheitskompetenz der Bevölkerung in Deutschland. Das Gesundheitswesen: DOI: 10.1055/a-2148-5221. https://www.thieme-connect.de/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/a-2148-5221
Schultz, Émilien; Ward, Jeremy K; Atlani-Duault, Laëtitia; Holmes, Seth M; Mancini, Julien (2021): French public familiarity and attitudes toward clinical research during the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18/5:2611. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/5/2611
Touzani, Rajae; Rouquette, Alexandra; Schultz, Emilien; Allaire, Cécile; Carrieri, Patrizia; Mancini, Julien; Hardouin, Jean-Benoit (2024): Psychometric validation of the French version of two scales measuring general (HLS19-Q12) and navigational (HLS19-NAV) health literacy using the Rasch model. In: BMC Public Health 24/1:3079. https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-024-20504-x
Touzani, Rajae; Dembele, Elodie; Schultz, Emilien; Rouquette, Alexandra; Seguin, Lorène; Dufour, Jean-Charles; Bannier, Marie; Mancini, Julien (2023): The French General Population’s Perception of New Information and Communication Technologies for Medical Consultations: National Survey. Journal of Medical Internet Research 25/:e45822 https://www.jmir.org/2023/1/e45822
Touzani, Rajae; Schultz, Emilien; Vandentorren, Stéphanie; Arwidson, Pierre; Guillemin, Francis; Bouhnik, Anne-Déborah; Rouquette, Alexandra; Mancini, Julien (2023): Digital contact tracing during the COVID-19 pandemic in France: Associated factors and reasons for non-use. International Journal of Medical Informatics 171/:104994 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9838029/
Touzani, R.; Protopopescu, C.; Rouquette, A.; Allaire, C.; Dumas, A.; Hardouin, J. B.; Mancini, J. (2025): Does health literacy mediate the relationship between socioeconomic status and navigation in the healthcare system? The French national health literacy survey (HLS(19)). In: Patient Educ Couns 138/:109204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2025.109204
Vincze, F.; Israel, F. E. A.; Adany, R.; Biro, E. (2025): The independent and moderator role of communicative health literacy on health, health behaviour and health care utilisation: a population based cross-sectional study. In: Public Health 245/:105794. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2025.105794
Hungary
National HLS19 reports
Journal publications
Israel, F. E. A.; Vincze, F.; Adany, R.; Biro, E. (2025): Communicative health literacy with physicians in healthcare services- results of a Hungarian nationwide survey. In: BMC Public Health 25/1:390 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-21590-1
Vincze, F.; Israel, F. E. A.; Adany, R.; Biro, E. (2025): The independent and moderator role of communicative health literacy on health, health behaviour and health care utilisation: a population based cross-sectional study. In: Public Health 245/:105794. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2025.105794
Portugal
Journal publications
Arriaga, M.; Francisco, R.; Nogueira, P.; Oliveira, J.; Silva, C.; Câmara, G.; Sørensen, K.; Dietscher, C.; Costa, A. (2022) Health Literacy in Portugal: Results of the Health Literacy Population Survey Project 2019–2021. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 19, 4225. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19074225
Costa, A.; Feteira-Santos, R.; Alarcao, V.; Henriques, A.; Madeira, T.; Virgolino, A.; Arriaga, M.; Nogueira, P. J. (2023): Health Literacy among Older Adults in Portugal and Associated Sociodemographic, Health and Healthcare-Related Factors. In: Int J Environ Res Public Health 20/5: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/5/4172