Hospital social workers’ contributions to increasing health literacy among parents of acutely and critically ill children

Abstract

Hospital social workers often engage in health literacy activities to support patients’ and families’ functioning and adjustment to illness, but social work literature has seldom used health literacy terminology. This paper reports on a qualitative study of paediatric hospital social workers’ understanding of the needs of parents with acutely ill children and how their contributions may accommodate these needs to strengthen parental health literacy. Utilising systematic text condensation, the study reveals four themes: (1) understanding of medical information, (2) counselling and service coordination, (3) emotional needs, and (4) timing of information. The findings suggest that hospital social workers make valuable additions to health literacy.