Purpose: This review investigates health literacy education interventions for health professions students in higher education settings with the aim of identifying core elements for the first conceptual framework for a health literacy curriculum. Method: A systematic literature search based on pre-specified inclusion criteria was conducted across education and health peer-reviewed literature - Academic Search Complete; CINAHL; MEDLINE (OVID); ProQuest Health & Medicine; SCOPUS (Elsevier); Australian Education Index Plus Text (AEIPT); Education Research Complete; ERIC; ProQuest Education. Twenty-eight peer-reviewed primary studies were found to be eligible and were systemically examined. Data on intervention characteristics, evaluation methods and key outcomes were extracted and content analysed. Results: Numerous health professions were represented in the examined studies, with undergraduate students principally targeted. The large majority of interventions reported positive results. Significant heterogeneity was found in instructional methods, evaluation instruments and outcomes. Instructional approaches ranged from single didactic to clinical and community placement interventions. Less than 40% of interventions used a pre/post evaluation design and control groups were used in only 3 of the included studies. The most successful interventions were found to be those that offered numerous training sessions and integrated knowledge and skill acquisition particularly when patient communication and assessment skills were developed within real-world settings with patients or community members. Review findings informed a draft health literacy training framework for conceptualizing multiple dimensions of health literacy training structure, design and assessment. Discussion/conclusion: Core aspects and best practice teaching elements for health professions health literacy training were identified. It was found that overall, this is an underdeveloped domain in the health professions education field. Future research should focus on identifying an agreed definition of health literacy for this field and structure and process opportunities for health literacy inter-professional education. Also needed is a much better understanding of the impact of health literacy training on specific health profession students, and over what time period to enable targeted curriculum and workforce education planning. © 2018 King Saud bin AbdulAziz University for Health Sciences
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