[Health literacy and health education: what do these terms mean in the francophone context?]

Abstract

The objective of this exploratory study is to describe the nature of the definitions of health literacy and health education with the intention of contributing to the development of common semantics to enable professionals to exchange knowledge with less confusion. The methodology consisted of conducting a literature review of francophone databases using the following key words: literacy and education combined with the word health. The second phase of this research involved reading 126 articles found in francophone databases and collected from the Internet. The third included reading 14 documents focused on the relationship between literacy/education and health with the aim of defining each word and identifying their characteristics. The results show that francophone authors from North America used both terms, health literacy and health education, interchangeably; while European authors only refer to health education. Nonetheless, the analysis revealed that both terms have the same meaning on either side of the Atlantic, given that the nature of their definitions and their expected outcomes are the same. In conclusion, this study suggests that there is a need for an in-depth theoretical debate on these concepts in the francophone world and for stronger consideration of health literacy specifically targeting the community level, rather than the individual.