Children's health literacy in school - a scooping review

Introduction Health literacy it is a subject of interest to health professionals by its influence in individual, family and community health outcomes and the reduction of health costs, with a consequent impact on public accounts. Knowing children’s Health Literacy (HL) it is essential to adequate health promotion actions in school context, strategy and privilege site to its development. Objectives To identify children’s HL evidences in school environment. Methods Scooping review was performed in CINAHL complete, MedLine Complete, PubMed and ProQuest data bases, with search expression Boolean with AND conjugation using MeSH descriptors – Health Literacy; students and Child. Limiters used were free full text; from 2015 until 2019; humans; English language; and age from 6 years until 18 years. Search results are 48 articles, which three cross-sectional studies were selected by filling eligible criteria. Results Studies point to low and medium levels of HL in children. Chinese children with higher levels of HL have a better quality of life and have the following characteristics: female gender; better perception of their school performance; good family relationships; parents with higher academic qualifications; higher family incomes; and live in urban areas. Greece and Taiwan children with higher HL are less likely to develop obesity or be underweight; lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease; and are girls. Conclusions Health promotion should be a priority action to health professional that must take into account personal, environmental and socio-economic determinants, in order to improve children’s HL levels and consequently individual, family and community health outcomes.