Model project: Organizational health literacy for preschools for children

The project “HeLit-Preschools” aims at developing an organizational health literacy concept for the preschool setting. The project will be carried out in collaboration with the coordination office of the Bavarian „Gesundheitsregion^plus“ in the Neu-Ulm region. As a health literate institution, this setting approach enables preschools to promote health literacy among children, staff, and parents.

In order to achieve the project goal, a guide for health literate kindergartens and preschools will be developed. This guide will lean on already existing concepts for organizational health literacy such as the “HeLit-Schools” guide, and is intended to define standards and indicators for health literate preschools. This allows institutions to manage their own development towards a health literate preschool and evaluate themselves with a self-assessment tool. The project is based on participatory research. Professionals working in preschools, pedagogy, and the regional administration will participate in workshops and actively engage in developing the guide. In addition, two measurements on health literacy of the staff will be carried out (2023 and 2024). A project advisory board will be involved in the research process to ensure the fit with already existing health promotion projects within the Gesundheitsregion^plus.