IPCHS. Integrated People-Centred Health Services

Publications

 
March 4, 2019 Europe

Health literacy as a social practice: Social and empirical dimensions of knowledge on health and healthcare

Health literacy has become a hot topic in health research and public health promotion. Most definitions specify health literacy as an individual cognitive skill, and surveys such as the EU-HLS which ask people to self-rate their decision-making capacity in the health system, grade a majority of the population as having an inadequate health literacy. Inspired by a praxeological understanding of knowledge and based on an empirical study on welfare bricolage in superdiverse urban neighborhoods, this paper explores health literacy ethnographically and highlights people's knowledge, creative practices and experiences concerning health and healthcare.

Source:
Social Science and Medicine