gms | German Medical Science

Your Idea(s)/Your creative contribution: The public is challenged by the flood of health information that mostly does not fulfil the quality criteria for evidence-based health information. In addition, claims about lifestyle choices and impacts on the environment are spread through the media. Therefore, people must be equipped with critical health literacy in order to be able to think critically, assess the evidence, critically appraise information and make informed choices. Otherwise, people might waste resources by getting interventions that can be harmful, ineffective and/or expensive, might miss helpful effective treatments, which has consequences for the carbon footprint [1]. Critical health literacy is key to more sustainability in healthcare.

The Informed Health Choices (IHC) project, as an international multidisciplinary working group, was formed to meet this challenge by developing, evaluating and disseminating educational resources. 49 plain language Key Concepts, thought to evaluate the trustworthiness of claims about intervention effects, have been developed, which can be embedded in education for citizens of all ages [2] [3]. The Key Concepts have also been adapted for environmental claims (e.g. claims about transport, clothing, lifestyle changes, nutrition and exercise) in cooperation with the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence [1].

To start with, three members of the IHC group will present how health literacy is promoted within the framework of the project in an introductory talk, taking into account sustainable development. A panel discussion using the fishbowl method will follow. Based on the experiences of the IHC projects, the discussion will focus on how such teaching and learning resources can be applied to the German context. Participants in the panel discussion will primarily be people from educational practice.

Methods: Introductory talks, fishbowl. The fishbowl enables the facilitation of large group dialogue by focusing on a small group discussion in an inner circle. It can be used as an alternative for traditional debates or panel discussions and offers a highly dynamic setting to discuss controversial issues and share expertise.

Time needed: 90 minutes

Required space and material: 20 participants and equipment for a hybrid session