The Assistant Professorship of Health Literacy, headed by Prof. Dr. Orkan Okan, developed a prevention program on digital health literacy for pupils in cooperation with the Barmer Krankenkasse, Fulda University of Applied Sciences and We are Family Stuttgart. Under the name "Durchblickt! - Digital into a Healthy Future", the project is funded by Barmer Krankenkasse with 500,000 Euros.
"PrävG". What at first sounds like an obscure collection of letters is of great importance to the German population. The Act to Strengthen Health Promotion and Prevention (Präventionsgesetz - PrävG) is intended to advance the topic in a future-oriented manner. Based on the obligatory law, the prevention program "Durchblickt!" has now been financed accordingly.
Prof. Okan sees this as an important step for the health development of children and adolescents: "The PrävG mentions health literacy several times, so it gives the whole thing a sustainable breeding ground to address the topic in perspective." Paragraph 20k on the "promotion of digital health literacy", which came into force in 2021, underlines the importance. "In this law, reference points to children, young people and schools can be found everywhere. The fact that health literacy must be strengthened in these settings is oriented precisely to my specialized field of research - health literacy in childhood and adolescence," explains the health scientist.
Especially on the internet there are many dangers for the target group: "Disinformation, commercial determinants or algorithms that influence purchasing decisions in health, nutrition or exercise behaviour. It is very important that children and young people learn media skills to distinguish good from bad information, especially in social media, where they are on the move every day," Prof. Okan explains.
The prevention program "Durchblickt!" strives for a holistic approach and involves schools, teachers and parents. "The goals of the project are to provide a platform for all types of schools where teachers or other educational professionals can find teaching materials to strengthen digital health literacy, download them and then use them in the classroom." At the same time, a digital app will be developed where schools can test their own health literacy skills.
For Prof. Okan, the integration of the social environment is a decisive point for the promotion of children and young people: "Different determinants of health, social, cultural, political, economic, and recently also digital and commercial, have an effect on them. And then, of course, it is necessary to turn the screws on these levels of society and also address other actors - such as school institutions - which then influence such competences or the health of children and adolescents."
The topic of health literacy offers a unique opportunity for the Professorship at the TU Munich to place itself on the research map, especially in the area of school health research, "because the topic is so close to the three areas of digital literacy, information literacy and media literacy," says Prof. Okan. The last few years under the influence of the Corona pandemic have shown the importance, relevance and timeliness of the topic. "Information has reached people faster than the virus itself. Accordingly, the ability to handle health information is quite central and crucial for the development of children and young people," explains the professor of health literacy.
But Prof. Okan sees this as just the starting signal for research in Munich and the surrounding area. "There hasn't been much research on the topic in Bavaria. However, we now have six more projects underway at the Professorship - most of them related to children, so we can position ourselves optimally for the future at the TU Munich - also because our Research Associates are doing doctorates in the topics and thus contribute to capacity building in this discipline."
In addition, Prof. Okan, in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Kevin Dadaczynski from the University of Applied Sciences Fulda, founded the "Covid-19 Health Literacy Network", an international research network for health literacy research, in which the global health literacy research community investigates the effects of the pandemic with reference to health literacy. It brings together researchers from 70 countries around the world, as well as network partners from UNESCO, WHO, EuroHealthNet and EUPHA, who produce collaborative "Global Survey Studies" on health literacy. The "Durchblickt!" project will also become part of the network's international research: "In this open research network, we present study designs that can be translated and replicated in the respective national languages. In this way, we present ourselves as TUM on the world map and can draw international comparisons."
To the homepage of the prevention program "Durchblickt! - Digital in eine gesunde Zukunft"
To the homepage of the Assistant Professorship of Health Literacy
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Orkan Okan
Assistant Professorship of Health Literacy
Georg-Brauchle-Ring 60/62
80992 München
phone: 089 289 24977
e-mail: orkan.okan(at)tum.de / info.healthliteracy(at)tum.de
Text: Bastian Daneyko
Photos: „Durchblickt!“ / private