Parental health literacy and multidimensional health education competencies in preschool children

Objective Although parental health literacy is regarded as correlated with the health-related learning environment of preschool children, evidence addressing children’s health education in a multidimensional manner remains limited. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine the relationship between parental health literacy and the parent-reported overall health education score and its subdimensions among preschool children—after controlling for child-, parent-, and family-related characteristics—as well as the incremental explanatory contribution of parental health literacy beyond these characteristics. Method This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2024 with 407 parents of 5 and 6-year-old children enrolled in preschools in Tokat, Türkiye. Data were collected using the Health Literacy Scale—Short Form, the Parent-Reported Health Education Scale for Preschool Children, and the Sociodemographic and Health Information Form. Child-, parent-, and family-related characteristics, as well as parental health literacy, were included in hierarchical multiple linear regression models, respectively. The overall health education score and its six subscales were analyzed separately. The Benjamini-Hochberg correction was applied to the p -values for parental health literacy in the subscale models. Results The final model explained 39.5% of the variance in the overall health education score. Including parental health literacy in the model contributed an additional 4.1% to the explained variance (Δ R 2 = 0.041; p < 0.001), and a higher level of parental health literacy correlated with higher overall scores in health education ( B = 0.012; β = 0.215; 95% CI: 0.008–0.017). Following the Benjamini-Hochberg correction, parental health literacy remained significantly associated with higher scores on the subscales of personal safety and first aid, hygiene and self-care, nutrition, mental health and social relationships, and neglect and abuse; however, no significant relationship was found for the sleep subscale. Conclusion Higher parental health literacy was found to be linked with higher overall health education scores among preschool children and higher scores in five of the six domains, after controlling for child, parent, and family characteristics. The findings suggest that parental health literacy could be a valuable element to consider in family-centered early childhood health promotion and preventive health education approaches.