Health Literacy Understanding of Early Intervention Providers: A Scoping Review

Abstract

In early intervention (EI) and other pediatric health care settings, providers communicate health information to caregivers of children with disabilities. Although more than 21 million American parents have inadequate health literacy skills, understanding of health literacy practices used in communication by EI providers or pediatric providers typically working in an EI setting is limited. This scoping review examined the understanding of providers’ health literacy. No studies reported on research with EI providers in an EI setting. This scoping review yielded studies that were primarily published in the nursing literature. Results indicate providers have low health literacy knowledge and understanding and infrequent use of health literacy practices, such as plain language and the teach-back method.