Identifying health literacy solutions for pregnant women and mothers in Tasmania: a codesign study

Abstract

Background

Pregnancy and early motherhood offer a crucial period for health literacy development and improve the health of women and future generations. Interventions to support health literacy development during these critical periods are scarce. Existing interventions are rarely informed by health literacy measurement and lack codesign principles.

Aims

To codesign health literacy solutions for pregnant women and mothers in Tasmania, Australia with stakeholders working in maternal and child health services across Tasmania; and to develop a set of recommendations to guide the implementation of identified solutions in the Tasmanian context.

Methods

Qualitative codesign workshops were conducted online (two rounds of workshops distributed across seven occasions). Stakeholders across Tasmania were recruited using purposive sampling. Data were analysed inductively using reflexive thematic analysis.

Results

33 solutions across six themes were generated based on ideas grounded in local knowledge and expertise. The solutions were diverse and most targeted at policy and practitioner levels. Four recommendations with 20 supporting ideas were generated to guide the implementation of the codesigned solutions in Tasmania.

Discussion

The solutions encourage policymakers to carefully consider the health literacy needs of pregnant women and mothers and support effective engagement of relevant stakeholders in planning and designing fit-for-purpose health literacy solutions.

Keywords:

• Health literacy
• codesign
• Ophelia
• pregnancy
• maternal health

Acknowledgment

The authors thank Gina Melis for her assistance in some of the codesign workshops.

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on reasonable request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to ethical concerns and privacy of research participants.