Looking beyond literacy: Understanding and approaching barriers to refugee health in 2 cases of vitamin D-deficiency rickets [Regarder au-delà de la littératie: Comprendre et surmonter les obstacles à la santé des réfugiés dans 2 cas de carence en vitamine D]

摘要

When the concept of health literacy is applied as a lens to vitamin D deficiency from a lack of vitamin D supplementation, it reveals a labyrinth of barriers to positive health outcomes within refugee communities in Canada. Usually, health literacy is taken to mean literacy and its relationship to health outcomes. Recently, the Expert Panel on Health Literacy has extended the meaning of this concept beyond literacy alone to reflect a process of empowerment, noting that it refers to the "ability to access, understand, evaluate and communicate information to promote, maintain and improve health in a variety of settings across the life course." In this context, access is thought to be "mediated by education, culture and language, by the communication skills of professionals, by the nature of materials and messages, and by the settings in which health-related supports are provided."