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parent health literacy and Preventive health behaviors |
Recent studies show that over one third of adults have inadequate health literacy skills which significantly affect their ability to navigate the health care system, engage in self-care, and manage disease. Although the effects of health literacy on adult preventive health is well studied, relatively little research has addressed the impact of caregiver health literacy on child preventive health. This interaction is an important gap to address given that young children are dependent on their caregivers for access to health care and preventive health behaviors. Health literacy intervention strategies targeting caregivers at risk for low health literacy offer a potentially powerful tool to improve preventive health and reduce non-communicable diseases in children, and by extension, adult chronic disease risk. Health literacy is also a vehicle for achieving health equity across children since low health literacy is most prominent among individuals with disparities and inequalities in health, including individuals who are low income, low education, and/or racial and ethnic minorities.
The goal of this project is to determine if a customized, community-based intervention can improve caregiver health literacy and preventive health behaviors for caregivers and their children in an urban setting. In a community-based approach, caregivers and community stakeholders provide input on their needs, barriers, and protective factors for health literacy and preventive health behaviors, which is used to create an intervention responsive to the specific needs of the community with strong consideration of their social determinants of health. The ultimate goal of the intervention is to promote the adoption of healthy lifestyle habits in early childhood.
We are currently seeking organizations to partner with on this project. Please contact Dr. Fleary at sasha.fleary@tufts.edu or 617-627-0588 or the Child Health Equity Research Lab at health@tufts.edu for more information.
The goal of this project is to determine if a customized, community-based intervention can improve caregiver health literacy and preventive health behaviors for caregivers and their children in an urban setting. In a community-based approach, caregivers and community stakeholders provide input on their needs, barriers, and protective factors for health literacy and preventive health behaviors, which is used to create an intervention responsive to the specific needs of the community with strong consideration of their social determinants of health. The ultimate goal of the intervention is to promote the adoption of healthy lifestyle habits in early childhood.
We are currently seeking organizations to partner with on this project. Please contact Dr. Fleary at sasha.fleary@tufts.edu or 617-627-0588 or the Child Health Equity Research Lab at health@tufts.edu for more information.