Health literacy education programmes developed for qualified health professionals: a scoping review protocol

Introduction: Health literacy education, for health professionals, has been identified as having the potential to improve patient outcomes and has been recognized as such in policy developments. Health literacy, as a relational concept, encompasses individuals’ skills and how health information is processed in relation to the demands and complexities of the surrounding environment. Focus has been predominantly on the dimension of functional health literacy (reading, writing and numeracy), although increasing emphasis has been placed on interactive and critical domains. Such dimensions often guide the development of health professional education programmes, where the aim is to enhance the patient-practitioner relationship, and ultimately reduce the health literacy burden experienced by patients navigating health services. Currently little is known about qualified health professionals’ education in health literacy and communication skills, and development, implementation or evaluation of such interventions. Aim: To identify and map current educational interventions to improve health literacy competencies and communication skills of qualified health professionals. Methods: A scoping review will be conducted drawing on methods and guidance from the Joanna Briggs Institute, and will be reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) Checklist. This study will retrieve literature on health professional education for health literacy and communication skills through a comprehensive search strategy in the following databases: CINAHL; Medline (Ovid); the Cochrane Library; EMBASE; ERIC; UpToDate; PsycINFO. Grey literature will be searched within the references of identified articles; Lenus; ProQuest E-Thesis Portal; RIAN and OpenGrey. A data charting form will be developed with categories including: article details, demographics, intervention details, implementation and evaluation methods. Conclusion: Little is known about the extent and nature of the current evidence base therefore a scoping review will be conducted, in order to identify programme characteristics in relation to health literacy competencies and communication skills.