Toward a Framework for Understanding Embodied Health Literacy

This chapter addresses issues regarding the conceptualization of health literacy and its measurement from an embodied cognitive perspective. We also present a critical analysis of some aspects of health literacy research, while calling for a realist approach to the design of cognitive assessments that addresses the various abilities underlying health literacy and numeracy, which may better represent the actual processes involved in the comprehension of health information. While health information is ubiquitous in modern society, it is often not easily comprehensible given the literacy abilities of the general population. Health information and health literacy have been researched in isolation of each other, when in actuality, they are two faces of the same coin. It is important to investigate them together, but current assessments treat them separately using tools that do not take into account the complexity of the process of health information understanding. Furthermore, these two components are studied by means of abstract, variable-based models that often obscure the embodied nature of health information and its understanding. Although most researchers in these fields are aware of the limitations of the models and current tools to investigate health information and literacy, an embodied approach to health literacy is still needed to complement the traditional variable-based approach. The process of comprehension of health information is complex, requiring investigation at the microlevel to uncover its component processes. An embodied approach, however, would benefit from a realist philosophy that may serve to provide an epistemological framework for guiding research.