Health literacy has been defined and conceptualized in multiple ways, but almost all definitions have the same core elements describing the skills that enable individuals to obtain, understand and use information to make decisions and take actions that will have an impact on their health. These health literacy skills can be applied to the full range of determinants of health (personal, social and environmental). Previous research has established that these skills and abilities are mediated by environmental demands and situational complexities.
This Special Issue will examine more closely current progress in understanding “Health Literacy” and welcomes papers that improve our understanding of the mutual impact of a range of social, economic, environmental, and organizational influences on health literacy.

Aims and Scope:

1. The relationships between physical and social environments and health literacy
2. Health literacy interventions using the preferred media of disengaged populations
3. Evaluating a systems approach to health literacy
4. Health literacy interventions that are responsive to cultural preferences
5. Full range of investigators and practitioners engaged in health literacy research
6. The social function of health literacy, social contexts, social health literacy, and distributed health literacy