Making health information meaningful: Children's health literacy practices

TLDR

Children’s health is a research priority, yet little is known about how they interpret health information in daily life, despite epidemiological links between childhood circumstances and adult health. This study explores how 9‑ to 10‑year‑old children understand food and its health implications, using health literacy to conceptualise their meaning‑making. Fifty‑three children from two socio‑economically contrasting schools in Northern England were interviewed in school and at home, with data analysed thematically using cross‑sectional categorical indexing. Recognising children as active health literacy practitioners has important implications for policy and practice geared towards improving child health.

Abstract

Children's health and wellbeing is high on the research and policy agenda of many nations. There is a wealth of epidemiological research linking childhood circumstances and health practices with adult health. However, echoing a broader picture within child health research where children have typically been viewed as objects rather than subjects of enquiry, we know very little of how, in their everyday lives, children make sense of health-relevant information. This paper reports key findings from a qualitative study exploring how children understand food in everyday life and their ideas about the relationship between food and health. 53 children aged 9-10, attending two socio-economically contrasting schools in Northern England, participated during 2010 and 2011. Data were generated in schools through interviews and debates in small friendship groups and in the home through individual interviews. Data were analysed thematically using cross-sectional, categorical indexing. Moving beyond a focus on what children know the paper mobilises the concept of health literacy (Nutbeam, 2000), explored very little in relation to children, to conceptualise how children actively construct meaning from health information through their own embodied experiences. It draws on insights from the Social Studies of Childhood (James and Prout, 2015), which emphasise children's active participation in their everyday lives as well as New Literacy Studies (Pahl and Rowsell, 2012), which focus on literacy as a social practice. Recognising children as active health literacy practitioners has important implications for policy and practice geared towards improving child health.