Community based health literacy interventions in India: A scoping review

Abstract

Background: Low levels of Health Literacy (HL) are a global concern as it is unrecognized and widespread. The objective of this review was to identify various community interventions that improved HL rates among the Indian population and to document their health outcomes as reported. Methods: The scoping review was guided by Arskey and O'Malley scoping review methodology. The search was conducted in six databases. Articles were screened at title-abstract and full-text and data was abstracted by two individuals independently. The review was reported according to the (PRISMA- ScR). Intervention data was captured according to the TiDER checklist. Results: A total of nine studies were included from the searches conducted in databases. Of these, five focused on the change in behaviour and four identified the importance of education in improving HL among people in the community. The interventions included: traditional interventions, art-based interventions, interactive learning-based interventions, and technology-based interventions. Conclusion: There are few community-based interventions to improve the health literacy of the population. It is essential to empower communities in making well-informed health decisions. It is important to include healthcare workers in designing and implementing health literacy interventions to improve the outcomes.

Keywords

• Information seeking
• Health literacy
• Health seeking behaviour
• Change in behaviour