Health Literacy & Equity Research Unit

We work with our local community to support the development of health literacy and disrupt health inequities that exist.

The Health & Equity Unit responds to the UTAS Strategic Plan to address health (health literacy, health equity), educational attainment, social inclusion and economic performance, and is aligned with the College of Health and Medicine Research Strategy (2018-2028) to support healthier, longer and better lives.

Our research embodies two themes:

1. Prevention and Management of Chronic Diseases
2. Public Health, Health Systems and Primary Care.

The Health Literacy and Equity Research Unit aims to:

• support positive health literacy and educational outcomes for Tasmanian families and reduce health inequities locally and globally.
• increase health literacy awareness and capacity build for whole community transformation.
• support schools, the health system and community organisations to be health literacy responsive and capable of redressing inequities.

Our mission

• Assert the value, significance and role of health literacy for society within and across educational, cultural, social, health, industrial and community sectors.
• Expand our health literacy resources and foster global and local connection across health literacy stakeholders to build health literacy capacity across whole communities.
• Evolve our understanding of how children and communities to better understand and invest in their own health literacy.
• Explore opportunities to collaborate and work with partners to co-design strategies to support health literacy beyond schools (i.e. hospitals, community centres, cultural institutions).

Our drivers

The key drivers of action for our research unit are enacted through advocacy, collaboration and community.

1. Advocacy

• Disseminate the enablers of improved health and reduced health inequities through high quality academic research and iterative design to inform ongoing health literacy development
• Embed optimal health literacy practice becomes usual practice and policy
• Recognise that health literacy needs and the appropriate responses vary across individuals, contexts, countries, cultures and time.

2. Collaboration

• Engage relevant stakeholders engage collaboratively to co-design solutions to develop, organise, and/or provide expertise for professional learning, seminars, masterclasses, teaching and learning which focus on health literacy development.
• Employ a multilevel approach in to ensure resources, interventions, research and policy are organised to optimise health literacy.

3. Community

• Prioritise those experiencing inequity in access and health, social and educational outcomes.
• Undertake participatory assessment of local needs using local data.
• Draw on local experience and expertise to inform health literacy development.

Expertise

• Health Literacy (Individual, Distributive and Organisational Responsiveness)
• Social Determinants of Health
• Health Research Methods
• Evaluation Research
• Co-design & Implementation
• Health Workforce Development
• Policy & Standards Development
• Validation theory and methodology
• Maternal health and wellbeing

Research opportunities

• Inequity and health literacy
• Educational attainment and health literacy
• Relationship of health literacy, self-efficacy and health behaviours
• Social determinants of health
• Mental health literacy
• Maternal health literacy

Potential projects include:

1. How are health promotion, health education and health literacy related/different?
2. How does health literacy influence health behaviours? Does it always?
3. Does health literacy address inequity and epistemic injustice? In what ways?
4. Could a wellbeing economy be the answer to health literacy being valued?
5. A synthesis: How does Curriculum from 18 countries support the development of health literacy?
6. Evaluating a social enterprise (HealthLit4Everyone) for its social impact.
7. Evaluation of the three options for the delivery of the HealthLit4Kids program (online, supported, fully coached).
8. Pilot of the Health Literacy Responsive Schools tool in Australia and internationally.
9. Comparison and validation of health literacy tools for children in the Australian context.

If you'd like to discuss any of these projects, please contact Associate Professor Shandell Elmer.

Unit leader

• Associate Professor Shandell Elmer

Unit members

UTAS

• Dr Rachel Climie
• Dr Vaughan Cruickshank
• Dr Rebecca Kelly
• Associate Professor Nenagh Kemp
• Dr Abbey MacDonald
• Dr Rosie Nash
• Dr Kira Patterson
• Dr Donald Reid

Other Institutions

• Theresa Chu (National Taiwan Normal University)
• Dr Louisa Peralta (University of Sydney)
• Associate Professor Shane Pill (Flinders University)
• Dr John Williams (University of Canberra)

UTAS PhD candidates

• Cheryn Coleman: Barriers to Implementing Evidence-based Healthcare Interventions in Community Settings
• Julie Kemp: HealthLit4Teens: Developing a health literacy program for secondary schools
• Dr Satish Melwani: Co-designing Health Literacy Solutions with Tasmanian Mothers to Reduce Intergenerational Impact of Non-Communicable Diseases
• Claire Otten: HealthLit4Kids Uncovers Best Practice Pedagogy for Developing Children's Health Literacy (HL) Assets that are Meaningful to them in their own World
• Madeline Spencer: HealthLit4Kids Co-designs Health Literacy Mediators for Tasmanian Schools and their Communities