OHL-ALL: a novel theory based and equity-centered approach to organizational health literacy

Abstract Background Organisational health literacy (OHL) addresses how organisations enable individuals to find, understand, and appraise information and apply knowledge to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others. Organisational health literacy for all (OHL-ALL) is a theory informed, practice oriented public health research, practice and policy initiative that explicitly embeds health equity at the centre of OHL. Theoretically, OHL-ALL relates OHL to the capability approach and its public health equity lens. The aim of OHL-ALL is to develop and test a new OHL framework that can be applied in hospital and public health settings. Methods OHL-ALL brings together academics and stakeholders from seven countries and public health, health care, health policy, and education sectors. Drawing on a mixed approach, including expert consultations, workshops, iterative processes linking research and practice, literature reviews, modelling, and evidence synthesis, the OHL-ALL framework was developed and is currently being piloted tested and evaluated. Results The main result of this process is the OHL-ALL framework that operationalizes central concepts of the capability approach through five OHL principles: (1) organizational change, (2) workforce responsiveness, (3) user involvement and person-centred care, (4) access and navigation, and (5) internal and external partnerships. Under each principle, proposed project outcomes demonstrate how the principles can be applied across diverse organisational settings. Conclusions OHL-ALL advances a new paradigm to OHL by strengthening people's opportunities to achieve the health and wellbeing outcomes they value. By explicitly focusing on equity and based on a strong theory basis, OHL-ALL strengthens the link between OHL and the promotion of health equity.