Stephan Van den Broucke

Catholic University of Louvain | UCLouvain · Psychological Sciences Research Institute

Background Access to comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) is crucial for adolescent health and well-being. Following UNESCO’s recommendations, Gabon revised its sex education policy in 2017 to better address adolescents’ sexual health needs. This study aims to map the capacities of the public health and education sector to implement Gabon’s CSE...

Background Deprescribing is a strategy to optimize medication use. While health behaviour can successfully be predicted by health behavior theories, the literature on deprescribing relies almost exclusively on questionnaires that measure attitudes only, such as the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire and the Patients Attitudes Towards Deprescribi...

Background Rapid advancement of digital resources for health and healthcare in Europe has widened the scope of opportunities to promote health, but also raises concerns about accessibility and health equity. Measuring digital health literacy (DHL) in populations is critical for assessing digital resource appropriateness in general and specifically...

Background: Organizational health literacy responsiveness is the ability of health organizations and systems to recognize and respond to health literacy needs and improve health environments to ensure equitable access to and use of information and services. However, research concerning outcome measures of organizational health literacy responsivene...

Purpose of review This paper addresses the extensive use of Instagram by youth and explores the potential negative consequences of such use, with a view to provide recommendations for prevention purposes. Recent findings Based on an attention economy model, Instagram strategically incorporates design elements rooted in behavioral psychology to max...

Background Health literacy (HL) has been put forward as a potential mediator through which socioeconomic status (SES) affects health. This study explores whether HL mediates the relation between SES and a selection of health or health-related outcomes. Methods Data from the participants of the Belgian health interview survey 2018 aged 18 years or...

Objectives: Introduce the Organisational Health Literacy approach to primary care practitioners Discuss the challenges posed by introducing OHL in primary care Share potential solutions for best practice in OHL in primary care Reflect on appropriate process and outcome measures for OHL in primary care Rationale: The move towards active patient part...

2nd Edition of the IUHPE Position Paper on Health Literacy

Deprescribing is a strategy to optimize medication use. Despite the fact that behavioral theories have shown to be useful in explaining health behaviors, the literature on deprescribing relies almost exclusively on attitudes as an explanatory factor for this behavior. This systematic review aimed to assess the capacity of health behavior theories a...

Background Increasing access to health-related digital information/resources of varied quality warrants sufficient Digital Health Literacy (DHL) in the population. Public health researchers, practitioners, and policy makers need to consider DHL for improving people's ability to use digital resources. The M-POHL HLS19 study objectives were to constr...

Introduction While earlier views of health literacy focused on patients’ skills, recent conceptualizations put the emphasis on matching individuals’ functional, communicative and critical skills to the information requirements of the health system. This paradigm shift has given rise to the concept of health-literate organizations. Yet while this co...

Background Health literacy (HL), refers to the cognitive and social qualities that influence an individual's motivation and capacity to acquire, comprehend, and apply information to improve their own health. Therefore, interventions targeting HL may allow a better understanding of the illness leading to better-adapted behaviors. Interventions targe...

Background Several universities around the world have adopted the settings approach to health to create a Health Promoting University (HPU) initiative. Health promoting initiatives are built on the values of health promotion, with participation being one of the most important. Despite the above, there is little information on how university communi...

Objectives Health literacy, or a person’s competence to access, understand, appraise and apply health information, can be considered a mediating factor between socioeconomic characteristics and health disparities. Socioeconomically disadvantaged people in particular present with less health literacy skills. To develop targeted interventions tailore...

Background and aims Social network use is widespread, and the study of Instagram seems to have captured more attention in recent years. However, scale development and validation in the field has fallen short of providing sound scales of Instagram motives and usage patterns that consider the uniqueness of Instagram-related behavior. This paper descr...

Background Participation in mammography screening comes with harms alongside benefits. Information about screening provided to women should convey this information yet concerns persist about its effect on participation. This study addressed factors that may influence the intention to screen once a woman has been informed about benefits and harms of...

Background Cervical cancer represents a high burden of disease. Many women in low- and middle-income countries face opposition from their partners and families to undergo cervical cancer screening. Identifying the social, cultural, and psychological factors that underly the opposition to screening by male partners is an important step towards reduc...

Background The effectiveness of adherence to COVID-19 infection prevention and control (IPC) measures depends on effective risk communication. This study assessed use and perception of COVID-19 information sources and channels in Belgium, and the relationship with adherence to measures. Methods Data were collected through an online questionnaire a...

This article provides an in-depth analysis of the motives and patterns of Instagram use among a sample of Belgian and Peruvian youths. 19 participants aged 18–28 underwent in-depth interviews to assess what Instagram means to them, why and how they use it, and what consequences of their use they perceive. The most recurrent motivations for using In...

Background Cervical cancer represents a very high burden of disease, especially in Low- and Middle-income economies. Screening is a recommended prevention method in resource-poor settings. Cervical cancer screening (CCS) uptake is influenced by various psycho-social factors, most of which are included in behavioural models. Unlike demographic chara...

What are skill-mix innovations and why are they relevant? This systemic analysis of health workforce skill-mix innovations provides an overview of the evidence and lessons for implementation across multiple countries. The authors focus on six core segments of health systems: health promotion and prevention, acute care, chronic care, long-term and p...

Background This study aimed to understand whether being informed about the awareness of benefits and harms of mammography screening impacts on the intention to be screened for breast cancer. Methods A cross-sectional survey of women from five countries (Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom) was performed in January 2021. The survey...

Background Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Belgium has been hit by a series of surges in the number of COVID-19 cases. Each of these resulted in more stringent measures being taken to curb the pandemic. This study compared perception of and adherence to COVID-19 measures of the Belgian population at two time periods: September 2020 (surve...

Objective: Empirical data on health literacy (HL) for Romania is almost inexistent. The present study aimed to validate the HLS-EU-Q16 questionnaire for the Romanian population and explore the predictors of HL in the North-West Region of the country. Methods: A non-experimental, cross-sectional study was conducted between March and November 2019 on...

Background/Research Topics/Partner Countries In Europe, interest has grown in measuring the health literacy (HL) of the adult population in relation to public health, disease prevention, and health promotion to inform health policy in the new millennium, partly building on a longer tradition of measuring HL, but with a focus on patients, in the US...

Background Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Belgian government has implemented various infection prevention and control measures. This study assessed the extent to which the general population in Belgium adhered to these measures, and which determinants were associated with adherence. Methods We undertook an internet survey among a sa...

Background Adequate levels of health literacy (HL) are crucial to ensure good quality of health, social life and wellbeing. HL is a mediating factor in health disparities. Low HL hampers interaction with healthcare. HL is a shared responsibility of individuals and the healthcare system. Multi-dimensional programs and policies should be set up. Aim...

Background Cervical cancer contributes to 6%–29% of the cancers in India. Although the Government of India in 2010 integrated cancer screening within the National Programme for the prevention of Non-communicable Diseases, only 22% of women aged 15–45 years had undergone examination of the cervix by 2016. This prompts the question regarding the orga...

To reduce the spread of COVID-19 among the population, Belgium has implemented various infection prevention and control measures over time. This study investigated the extent to which understanding of the COVID-19 measures contributed to adherence, and which personal characteristics were considered risk factors for lower adherence. It consisted of...

Background The importance of health literacy in dealing with the COVID-19 epidemic has been emphasized but scarcely addressed empirically. In this study, the association of health literacy with mental health, compliance with COVID-19 preventive measures and health prospects was assessed in a Belgian context. Methods Data were extracted from the th...

Background While cervical cancer is a major cause of mortality, its progress and survival rate can be improved through screening. Yet despite their wide availability, women's participation in cervical cancer screening (CCS) programs is often suboptimal, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Besides demographic and organizational character...

Objective To simultaneously investigate the psychometric properties of three recently developed health literacy measurement scales throughout adolescence in the general population. Methods French versions of the Health Literacy for School-Aged Children (HLSAC, unidimensional) scale, the Health Literacy Assessment Scale for Adolescents (HAS-A, mult...

Background: There is convincing evidence about the role of non-formal education (NFE) as an effective mean of helping young people especially those pertinent to disadvantaged and marginalized population categories. The NFE approach enables youths to overcome several barriers and obstacles they experience and become active contributors to the develo...

BACKGROUND Self-management education is a fundamental aspect in the health care of people with Diabetes Mellitus (DM) to develop the necessary skills for the improvement of health outcomes. Patients are required to have the competencies to manage electronic information resources, that is, an appropriate level of digital health literacy (DHL). The E...

Background Self-management education is a fundamental aspect in the health care of people with diabetes to develop the necessary skills for the improvement of health outcomes. Patients are required to have the competencies to manage electronic information resources—that is, an appropriate level of digital health literacy. The European project IC-He...

Problematic Internet use (PIU) can lead to dysfunction and undesired consequences, especially in adolescents and youths. Preventive interventions can reduce them, but should be built on sound evidence. This review synthesizes the available evidence on the effectiveness of primary prevention programs for PIU in adolescents and youths. It adds to pre...

Background: Healthcare authorities worldwide search for ways to develop integrated care and interprofessional collaboration. In Belgium, Medical-Pharmaceutical Concertation (MPC) was introduced as a format to promote constructive dialogues between GPs and community pharmacists (CPs) with a focus on pharmacotherapy. Objective: To evaluate the imp...

Self-management education (SME) is a key determinant of diabetes treatment outcomes. While SME programs are often adapted for implementation, the impact of adaptations on diabetes SME effectiveness is not well documented. This study evaluated the impact of the implementation fidelity of diabetes SME programs on program effectiveness, exploring whic...

Background Obesity is a major health problem worldwide, and one of its causes is unhealthy eating. A healthy diet should ensure that energy intake (calories) is in balance with energy expenditure, but in this paper a subjective experience of healthy eating will be discussed. Research has revealed many determinants of food consumption, but a more ho...

Nonformal education methodology is promoted by the European Union as a priority. Western Balkan countries are supported in using this methodology via access Community funds (Erasmus þ, previously Youth in Action). Nonformal education (proven as the most effective education method for youth) is expected to have the same impact if used in Public Heal...

The Health Promoting University (HPU) concept encourages universities to incorporate health into the university context. HPU initiatives exist worldwide, yet information on how universities translate the HPU concept into actions is scarce. This study aimed to identify the factors influencing the implementation of HPU initiatives in Ibero-American u...

The Health Promoting University (HPU) concept encourages universities to incorporate health into the university context. HPU initiatives exist worldwide, yet information on how universities translate the HPU concept into actions is scarce. This study aimed to identify the factors influencing the implementation of HPU initiatives in Ibero-American u...

Health literacy is a key topic in public health. Several measurement tools exist that operationalize health literacy, but only a few standard tools measure health literacy at a population level, and none of those are currently available for the Indian context. This study aimed to develop and validate an Indian version of the short form of the Europ...

Background The Health Belief Model (HBM) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) are used to explain screening behavior. Although reviews of each model have been conducted independently, none have compared the application of both to mammography screening. Methods A systematic review of literature published in five databases from 1974 to 2020 was...

Farm work is considered among the highest risk jobs throughout the world. Occupational health behavior is a critical factor that influences agricultural job-related injuries and diseases. Yet, while educational programs have been set up to encourage farmers to behave more safely, many of these programs do not sufficiently take into account the fact...

Background Diagnostic self-tests in Belgian pharmacies are a recent phenomenon. While considered a way to empower patients to take informed decisions, self-tests also challenge the relationship between patients and health professionals and between pharmacists and general practitioners. This study explored how the introduction of diagnostic self-tes...

Health services in most developed countries were developed to meet the needs of a demand-led health care, and focus mostly on treatment, cure and care. This system is challenged by the growing burden of non-communicable diseases, increased multi-morbidity, newly emerging communicable diseases, and increasing anti-microbial resistance. At the same t...

Background In Belgium, the past decade has seen a large number of initiatives by various stakeholders to address health literacy (HL) at different levels, but an encompassing policy plan to coordinate efforts across sectors is missing. The Belgian Federal Public Service of Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment commissioned a study to investigat...

Background Due to the digital transformation in late modern society, digital (or e-) health literacy (DHL) is becoming increasingly relevant for people to take health related decisions. Yet despite its importance for evidence-based policy, very few tools have been developed to measure DHL, and even fewer studies have measured DHL in general populat...

Digital health literacy (DHL) is the ability to search, understand and evaluate information from digital media and apply that knowledge to solve health problems. However, currently many citizens have not developed these skills, and this compromises not only the self-management of their health, but the possibility that health services are socially s...

Background: Cervical cancer is a major reason for morbidity and mortality in Low and Middle income countries. The National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancers, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS) sets out broad national guideline to implement Cervical cancer screening. However, an implementation strategy for cervical...

Purpose: Nudging incorporates adjustments to a task or environment in ways that nudge people to do the right thing, sometimes without them even having to think about it. The project will seek to address dairy labor and safety challenges by examining the efficacy of “nudging” principles to improve worker safety and the efficiency of work processes....

Background: Prebiotic vegetables such as leek and salsify may contribute to preventing obesity by changing the composition of the gut microbiota. To increase consumption of prebiotic vegetables, the aim of the study was to document the prevalence and determinants of (prebiotic) vegetable consumption. Methods: An online, correlational questionnai...

The aim of this study was to develop a typology of approaches towards informed decision-making (IFD) about mammography screening in Europe. All countries collaborating in the European Commission Initiative on Breast Cancer were approached to participate. Experts from 28 European countries responded to a web-based survey providing data on key organi...

Objectives: The objectives of this review were: i) to identify and synthesize the best available evidence on the effectiveness on health-related outcomes of health literacy interventions for enabling socioeconomically disadvantaged people living in the community to access, understand, appraise and apply health information; and ii) to identify comp...

The COVID-19 pandemic plunges the world into a crisis that is touching all sectors of society. In a desperate attempt to contain the further spread of the disease, governments across the world have taken unprecedented measures, closing schools, universities, houses of worship, shops, restaurants, theatres and other non-system relevant settings but...

Health and safety education for farmers has the potential to increase the level of health, safety literacy, and thereby improve farmers’ health and quality of life. The aim of this paper is to provide a systematic review of the published literature documenting different educational interventions for agricultural workers that have the improvement of...

The concept of digital health literacy can be regarded as the result of the increasing social permeation of digital media and their use in everyday life. Due to increasing accessibility and ubiquity, there is an increasing need not only for searching and finding, but especially for assessing the reliability as well as selecting and applying health...

This report is about the governmental policy regarding the improvement of health literacy

This study applied the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to investigate the psychological determinants of using sexually explicit material (SEM) in sex therapy. Self-report data regarding perceived advantages/disadvantages, injunctive and descriptive norms, motivation to comply, self-efficacy, facilitators/obstacles, and intention to using SEM were...

By means of an online survey, this study investigated factors predicting the intention to use sexually explicit material among 52 sex educators. The online survey was based on the theory of planned behaviour and measured attitudes towards sexually explicit material, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and the intention to use sexually e...

Nudging is a popular behavior change technique but the conditions for its effectiveness have not been researched extensively. The current study aimed to test whether the effectiveness of nudging is limited to certain characteristics of the nudged product by focusing on a specific product (salsify soup) within a broader category (soups). Two paralle...

As self-management support is a cost-effective way to enable patients to take an active role in managing their own condition and to address the chronic disease burden, there is a need for contextually appropriate self-management support tools. This study explored the feasibility of using a contextually adapted self-management care-plan booklet for...

Background Short versions of the European Health Literacy Survey (HLS-EU) questionnaire are increasingly used to measure and compare health literacy (HL) in populations worldwide. As no validated versions of these questionnaires have thus far appeared in French, this study aimed to study the psychometric properties of the French translation of the...

Rasch person-item map of the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire with 16 items (HLS-EU-Q16) in the sample (N = 317). A higher (positive) location value indicates higher health literacy of the persons or greater item difficulty (logit scale). (DOCX)

French version of the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire short form with 16 items (HLS-EU-Q16). (DOCX)

Expected score on the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire with 16 items depending on education level and expected difference in score due to differential item functioning across education levels (reference “Post-secondary”) as a function of latent trait (as an example, for subjects with a health literacy level at 2 logits on the latent tr...

Items from the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire short forms, 16 items (HLS-EU-Q16) and 6 items (HLS-EU-Q6, in bold, and the health contexts and health-information-processing skills to which they apply. (DOCX)