About this Research Topic

Background

Improving health and physical literacy in populations provides the foundation on which citizens are enabled to play an active role in improving their own health, engage successfully with community action for health and physical activity, and push governments to meet their responsibilities in addressing health and health equity. Efforts to raise health and physical literacy will be crucial in whether the social, economic and environmental ambitions of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are fully realized.

Health literacy implies the achievement of a level of knowledge, personal skills, and confidence to take action to improve personal and community health by changing personal lifestyles and living conditions. Thus, health literacy means more than being able to read pamphlets and make appointments. By improving people’s access to health information, and their capacity to use it effectively, health literacy is critical to empowerment (WHO, 2020).

Despite being a multidimensional, evolving, and complex concept that has been defined in many ways (Edwards et al., 2017; Martins et al., 2021), physical literacy is being considered important to set the foundation for a healthy, active, and meaningful lifestyle for all people. Therefore, in the last two decades, physical literacy has gained prominence in the sectors of education, sport, and public health (Cairney et al., 2019; Dudley et al., 2017; Ydo, 2021). Until recently, however, many studies have centered their attention on defining and measuring physical literacy (Edwards et al., 2018; Martins et al., 2021). Some of the most influential definitions of physical literacy are those from Whitehead/IPLA and Sports Australia (Edwards et al., 2017; Martins et al., 2021). To advance the frontiers in the field, and for the purpose of this research topic, it is crucial for authors to identify the definition of physical literacy used and to place a stronger emphasis on the practical and empirical aspects of physical literacy (Cairney et al., 2019; Carl et al., 2022).

It is in this context that we launch this research topic on health and physical literacy. We welcome high-quality articles of different types (e.g., original research, clinical trials, systematic reviews and meta-analysis, study protocols, mini reviews, community case study) focused on health and physical literacy interventions in education, sport and public health settings, across all population subgroups and cultural contexts. Potential topics include but are not limited to:

● Operationalizing health and physical literacy in practice in different sectors
● Interventions for improving health and physical literacy in different contexts
● Quality health and quality physical education interventions
● Individual and environmental factors associated with health and physical literacy
● Health and physical literacy, active citizenship, and sustainable lifestyles.

Keywords: Health Literacy, Physical Literacy, Physical Activity, Healthy Lifestyle, Preventative Health

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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