Search

Aim: Health literacy has gained increasing importance worldwide. As a result of several studies indicating low health literacy levels in large parts of the population, strategies and action plans promoting health literacy were developed in many countries. The article analyses the origin, development and structure of the German Health Literacy Action Plan. Subject and methods: In 2016, a civil society initiative was formed, aiming at developing a national action plan in an expert-based and collaborative manner. A group of 15 experts elaborated the core elements of the action plan, based on a literature review on existing health literacy approaches, action plans and empirical evidence. These core elements were further developed collaboratively in workshops with key stakeholders, self-help and patient organizations and individual consultation meetings. Afterwards, the National Action Plan was reviewed and previously formulated recommendations were refined before being published. Results and conclusion: The National Action Plan Health Literacy in Germany presents 15 recommendations in four areas of action for promoting health literacy in Germany. This bottom-up strategy and the expert-based yet at the same time collaborative approach have proved to be successful when developing a national action plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exercise programs for young people after cancer are not part of regular oncological care. This study describes and evaluates a regional outdoor exercise program and presents data with regard to the promoting and inhibiting factors for participation among pediatric cancer survivors. Exercise options, number of participants, and the cohort were evaluated descriptively for one year. A self-developed questionnaire was used to evaluate satisfaction, mood, motivations, and barriers to exercise. Overall N = 26 survivors (14.6 ± 5.5 years) participated in at least one activity in 2019 including try-out days (N = 10) and active weekend camps (N = 2). No adverse events occurred in 302 physical activity hours. Twenty-one survivors participated in the survey. The largest motivational aspect to participate was "to try out a new sport" (83.9%). Survivors reported "good mood", and 'being happy' after exercising. The largest barrier was concern about 'not being able to keep up with others' (38.1%). Around one-third (try-out day) and 50% (active weekend camp) of survivors did not feel confident to continue exercising outside the supervised exercise oncology program. This survey shows high enthusiasm for this exercise program with different outdoor activities and suggests that similar interventions may be accepted by this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]