Celebrating the health literacy skills of parents: A photovoice study.

Parents play a vital role in promoting children's health. The parental health literacy skills are important since the decisions they make can have an impact on other family members' health and well-being. Using an assets-based approach, this project aimed to explore the skills parents use to communicate health messages with their children and how they manage their family's health.

Effective Partnership in Community-Based Health Promotion: Lessons from the Health Literacy Partnership.

This paper aims to explore key elements needed to successfully develop healthy partnerships and collaborative working in community-based health promotion. It draws upon the lessons learned from a case study with the Health Literacy Partnership in Stoke-on-Trent, UK in developing the health literacy strategy in the area. The process was underpinned by respect for diverse yet complementary perspectives and skills from the grassroots up.

The digital divide: Examining socio-demographic factors associated with health literacy, access and use of internet to seek health information.

This article aims to examine the socio-demographic characteristics associated with access and use of Internet for health-related purposes and its relationship with health literacy. Data were drawn from a health literacy survey ( = 1046) and analysed using logistic regression. Results show a strong association between health literacy, internet access and use.

Health literacy, associated lifestyle and demographic factors in adult population of an English city: a cross-sectional survey.

Background: Lower health literacy is a public health issue that follows a social gradient, potentially reinforcing existing health inequalities. However, levels of health literacy in particular populations can be unclear and are a key to identifying effective public health interventions. This research examined health literacy levels in Stoke-on-Trent, where 31.

Patient information materials in general practices and promotion of health literacy: an observational study of their effectiveness.

Background: Government policy in the UK emphasises providing patients with good health information to encourage participation in their health care. Patient information leaflets (PILs) form part of this policy and have been shown to affect patient health outcomes; however, many are poorly written.

Aim: To describe the PILs in general practice surgeries in Stoke-on-Trent in terms of readability and variety of content.

Experiences of Racial Microaggression Among Migrant Nurses in the United Kingdom.

In this article, we explore the experiences of racial microaggression among migrant nurses in the United Kingdom. Eleven migrant nurses kept a reflective diary for 6 weeks to record and reflect on their experiences of living and working in the United Kingdom. The diary entries were then thematically analyzed.

Health literacy: why it matters to South Asian men with diabetes.

This study aims to explore the health literacy needs of South Asian men with diabetes to generate scoping data to inform culturally appropriate interventions with this group. Health literacy levels were measured using the TOFHLA-UK (n=45) and supplemented by semi-structured interviews with healthcare providers (n=12). Data suggest that the majority of participants from this cohort tend to have marginal to inadequate health literacy levels.

Health literacy: exploring future directions and potential contributions from health psychology.

Health psychology has the potential to contribute meaningfully to our understanding of the concept, processes, and outcomes of health literacy. Three areas for discussion are presented here: (1) health literacy as a multimodal concept; (2) the role of the health-care system, the professional, and tools of the trade; and (3) the relevance of social context, participation, and empowerment. The three levels of health literacy proposed by Nutbeam are mapped onto the four evolving approaches in health psychology proposed by Marks to explore the synergy between these research areas.

Health literacy and community empowerment: it is more than just reading, writing and counting.

The concept of health literacy is evolving. The re-emergence of Freireian-inspired health literacy projects moves the conceptualisation of health literacy from merely the ability to apply functional literacy skills in a health-care context to a wider ability to exert control over the determinants of health. This article presents an example of a community-based project that adopts an empowerment education model in health literacy.

Who stays, who drops out? Biosocial predictors of longer-term adherence in participants attending an exercise referral scheme in the UK.

Background: Exercise referral schemes are one of the most popular forms of physical activity intervention in primary care in the UK and present an opportunity to better understand the factors related to exercise adherence. But standard schemes tend to be delivered over a short period and so provide information about the factors associated with short-term adherence. This retrospective register-based study of a longer-duration scheme allowed investigation of longer-term adherence.

'Your freedom ends where my nose begins': health psychology's potential towards critical empowerment, media advocacy and social action.

There is no question that health psychology needs to be more involved with matters concerning health inequalities and the social injustices associated with media racism, and racism in general. It is recognized that our discipline has the potential to develop and carry out research that can make valuable contributions to address such issues. Reflecting and discussing these matters were useful in this respect, however, the recommendations raised here need to be put into practice for real progress to be made.

Human exploitation is not a joke--so don't laugh!

In a previous article, I called for an open discussion and debate on health psychology perspectives on social and political issues relevant to health, in particular the issue concerning racism and the media (Estacio, 2009). In this article, I raise three topics for discussion which the controversial BBC 'Harry and Paul' sketch (un)intentionally exposed to the public domain: (1) racist humour, the media and health; (2) human rights abuses against domestic workers; and (3) third world poverty and labour migration. Its implications on health psychology theory, research and practice are also explored.

Editorial: media exploitation, racism and health.

The BBC comedy show ;Harry and Paul' sparked media controversy in the UK and around the world for inciting stereotyped racial discrimination, vulgarity and violation of human rights when it portrayed a Filipino domestic worker as a sex toy in Episode 4 of the series. This incident raises the issue concerning the media's role in framing social issues and how it affects the wider determinants of health. There is a need for health psychology as an academic discipline to engage more in these issues.

Going beyond the rhetoric: the movement of critical health psychology towards social action.

Health is a fundamental human right. Unfortunately the pursuit of good health remains a struggle for marginalized individuals/groups because of the rise of new centres of power. Hepworth argues that critical health psychologists can contribute to the promotion of public health by moving towards 'greater practice and action orientation'.

Child labour and the International Labour Organization's Convention 182: a critical perspective.

'Child labour' is a worldwide problem that has caused detrimental effects to children's health and well-being. The ILO Convention 182 aims to address this issue by immediately eliminating its worst forms. This article provides a discourse analysis of this Convention.