Abstract
Background: Health literacy has been shown to be low among immigrant populations globally, leading to limited ability to locate, access and use health information. Religious entities are often the initial contact for many immigrants regarding health and social supports, there are a lack of knowledge about how initiatives to improve health literacy of the immigrant population may be offered through faith-based entities. The objective of this proposed scoping review is to identify available evidence on health literacy initiatives delivered through faith-based entities for immigrant populations.
 Methods/Design: Using a scoping review framework we will complete a comprehensive search of relevant keywords in major academic and grey literature databases. Eligible articles will be identified through screening by two independent reviewers according to predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria to include articles relevant to our research question. Selected articles will be charted into data extraction tables for analysis, synthesis and presentation of narrative description and visual graphics.
 Discussion: This scoping review will identify and assess existing health literacy initiatives delivered through faith-based entities to improve health literacy of immigrant communities. This review will inform which initiatives are commonly practiced, and which immigrant groups are most benefitted from and can potentially be benefitted. It will also describe how to conduct those initiatives and what resources are needed and identify the stakeholders of such initiatives those needed to be engaged with to conduct a successful and acceptable program. The challenges and facilitators of those initiatives will also be identified.
Highlights
This scoping review will identify and assess existing health literacy initiatives delivered through faith-based entities to improve health literacy of immigrant communities
Limited or low levels of health literacy are associated with high levels of morbidity at both individual and societal levels, supported by research reporting that health literacy is a stronger predictor of health status than socioeconomic status, age or ethnic background (Speros, 2005)
In addition to aging populations, it has been showing that the growing proportions of immigrants in many countries such as Australia, Canada and the United States are contributing to low levels of health literacy, where it has been shown that 75% of immigrants lack the requisite literacy skills to maintain health (Murray et al, 2008; Ng & Omariba, 2010)
Summary
Health literacy has been shown to be low among immigrant populations globally, leading to limited ability to locate, access and use health information. Religious entities are often the initial contact for many immigrants regarding health and social supports, there are a lack of knowledge about how initiatives to improve health literacy of the immigrant population may be offered through faith-based entities. It is estimated that more than 50% of the adults in various countries such as Australia, Canada, Spain, Austria, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Slovenia, Turkey, Portugal and Czech Republic have low health literacy levels, in which these individuals lack the capacity to access, understand and act on health information and services in order to make appropriate autonomous health care decisions (Moreira, 2018; Murray et al, 2008).
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