Science Journal of Public Health

| Peer-Reviewed |

Health Literacy Among Migrants in the EU: A Collection of Best Available Interventions and Indirect Measures

Received: 25 August 2017    Accepted: 20 September 2017    Published: 21 November 2017
Views:       Downloads:

Share This Article

Abstract

Migrants have lower health literacy (HL) levels compared with native-born. To reduce health inequalities, this research intends to achieve recommendations for a HL strategy for migrants. Additionally, it identifies indirect measures for HL. A literature review acquired existing interventions improving migrants’ HL, variables to measure HL indirectly and studies measuring these variables. Cancer screening and maternal mortality indirectly measure migrants’ HL deficiencies. Workshops, language courses, multicultural webpages, health educators, and migrant-friendly hospitals improve migrants’ HL. EU countries should develop comprehensive HL strategies to reduce health inequalities between migrants and native-born. However, there is a lack of evidence-based interventions.

DOI 10.11648/j.sjph.20180601.11
Published in Science Journal of Public Health (Volume 6, Issue 1, January 2018)
Page(s) 1-5
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Health Literacy among Migrants in the EU: A Collection of Best Available Interventions and Indirect Measures

References
[1] Wanner, P. Migration Trends in Europe. European Population Series 7. Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 2002.
[2] Eurostat. Migration and migrant population statistics, 2015.
[3] BBC. Migrant crisis: Migration to Europe explained in seven charts, 2016.
[4] Nusselder, A. Health literacy en laaggeletterdheid [Health literacy and low literacy]. Tijdschrift voor praktijkondersteuning, 3, (2012), 66-70.
[5] WHO. Health literacy – the solid facts. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2013.
[6] European Commission. Study on sound evidence for a better understanding of health literacy in the European Union. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2014.
[7] Eisenhauer, E. R., Mosher, E. C., Lamson, K. S., Wolf, H. A., Schwartz, D. G. Health education for Somali Bantu refugees via home visits. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 29, 2 (2012), 152-61.
[8] Santos, M. G., Handley, M. A., Omark, K., Schillinger, D. ESL participation as a mechanism for advancing health literacy in immigrant communities. Journal of Health Communication, 19, 2 (2014), 89–105.
[9] Soto Mas, F., Ji, M., Fuentes, B. O., Tinajero, J. The Health Literacy and ESL Study: A Community-Based Intervention for Spanish-Speaking Adults. Journal of Health Communication, 20, 4 (2015), 369–376.
[10] Yang, Y. M., Wang, H. H., Lee, F. H., Lin, M. L., Lin, P. C. Health empowerment among immigrant women in transnational marriages in Taiwan. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 47, 2 (2015), 135-42.
[11] Kiropoulos, L. A., Griffiths, K. M., Blashki, G. Effects of a Multilingual Information Website Intervention on the Levels of Depression Literacy and Depression-Related Stigma in Greek-Born and Italian-Born Immigrants Living in Australia: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 13, 2 (2011), e34.
[12] Salman, R. Mit Migranten für Migranten- Interkulturelle Gesundheit in Deutschland (MiMi) [With Migrants for Migrants- Intercultural Health in Germany (MiMi)], 2006.
[13] Reiter, A. Evaluierung “Gesundheit kommt nachhause – Mehr Wissen hilft!” [Evaluation “Health is coming home – more knowledge helps!”], 2012.
[14] Riggs, E., Yelland, J., Duell-Piening, P., Brown, S. J. Improving health literacy in refugee populations. Medecial Journal of Australia, 204, 1 (2016), 9-10.
[15] European Commission. Project Summary Migrant-Friendly Hospitals Project, 2005.
[16] Kim, K., Han, H. Potential links between health literacy and cervical cancer screening behaviors: a systematic review. Psycho-Oncology, 25, 2 (2016) 122-130.
[17] McAlister, C., Baskett, T. F. Female Education and Maternal Mortality: A Worldwide Survey. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada, 28, 11 (2006), 983-990.
[18] Van den Muijsenbergh, M., Vermeer, B. Geringe deelname migrantenvrouwen aan borstkankerscreening [Low participation of migrant women for breast cancer screening]. Epidemiologisch Bulletin, 46, 1 (2011), 12-15.
[19] Visser, O., van Peppen, A. M., Ory, F. G., van Leeuwen, F. E. Results of breast cancer screening in first generation migrants in Northwest Netherlands. European Journal of Cancer Prevention, 14, 3 (2005), 251–5.
[20] Kristiansen, M., Thorsted, B. L., Krasnik, A., von Euler-Chelpin, M. Participation in mammography screening among migrants and non-migrants in Denmark. Acta Oncologica, 51, 1 (2012), 28–36.
[21] Fontana, M., Bischoff, A. Uptake of breast cancer screening measures among immigrant and Swiss women in Switzerland. Swiss Medical Weekly, 138, 49-50 (2008), 752–8.
[22] Berens, E., Stahl, L., Yilmaz-Aslan, Y., Sauzet, O., Spallek, J., Razum, O. Participation in breast cancer screening among women of Turkish origin in Germany—a register-based study. BMC Womens Health, 14, (2014), 24.
[23] Pedersen, G. S., Grøntved, A., Mortensen, L. H., Andersen, A. M., Rich-Edwards, J. Maternal mortality among migrants in Western Europe: a meta-analysis. Maternal Child Health Journal, 18, 7 (2014), 1628-38.
Author Information
  • Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands

Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Tessa Naus. (2017). Health Literacy Among Migrants in the EU: A Collection of Best Available Interventions and Indirect Measures. Science Journal of Public Health, 6(1), 1-5. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20180601.11

    Copy | Download

    ACS Style

    Tessa Naus. Health Literacy Among Migrants in the EU: A Collection of Best Available Interventions and Indirect Measures. Sci. J. Public Health 2017, 6(1), 1-5. doi: 10.11648/j.sjph.20180601.11

    Copy | Download

    AMA Style

    Tessa Naus. Health Literacy Among Migrants in the EU: A Collection of Best Available Interventions and Indirect Measures. Sci J Public Health. 2017;6(1):1-5. doi: 10.11648/j.sjph.20180601.11

    Copy | Download

  • @article{10.11648/j.sjph.20180601.11,
      author = {Tessa Naus},
      title = {Health Literacy Among Migrants in the EU: A Collection of Best Available Interventions and Indirect Measures},
      journal = {Science Journal of Public Health},
      volume = {6},
      number = {1},
      pages = {1-5},
      doi = {10.11648/j.sjph.20180601.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20180601.11},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.sjph.20180601.11},
      abstract = {Migrants have lower health literacy (HL) levels compared with native-born. To reduce health inequalities, this research intends to achieve recommendations for a HL strategy for migrants. Additionally, it identifies indirect measures for HL. A literature review acquired existing interventions improving migrants’ HL, variables to measure HL indirectly and studies measuring these variables. Cancer screening and maternal mortality indirectly measure migrants’ HL deficiencies. Workshops, language courses, multicultural webpages, health educators, and migrant-friendly hospitals improve migrants’ HL. EU countries should develop comprehensive HL strategies to reduce health inequalities between migrants and native-born. However, there is a lack of evidence-based interventions.},
     year = {2017}
    }
    

    Copy | Download

  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Health Literacy Among Migrants in the EU: A Collection of Best Available Interventions and Indirect Measures
    AU  - Tessa Naus
    Y1  - 2017/11/21
    PY  - 2017
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20180601.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.sjph.20180601.11
    T2  - Science Journal of Public Health
    JF  - Science Journal of Public Health
    JO  - Science Journal of Public Health
    SP  - 1
    EP  - 5
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-7950
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20180601.11
    AB  - Migrants have lower health literacy (HL) levels compared with native-born. To reduce health inequalities, this research intends to achieve recommendations for a HL strategy for migrants. Additionally, it identifies indirect measures for HL. A literature review acquired existing interventions improving migrants’ HL, variables to measure HL indirectly and studies measuring these variables. Cancer screening and maternal mortality indirectly measure migrants’ HL deficiencies. Workshops, language courses, multicultural webpages, health educators, and migrant-friendly hospitals improve migrants’ HL. EU countries should develop comprehensive HL strategies to reduce health inequalities between migrants and native-born. However, there is a lack of evidence-based interventions.
    VL  - 6
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

    Copy | Download

  • Sections