Organizational health literacy and its significance for companies
Background
The current working environment is changing rapidly and imposes increased demands on organizations and their employees. Consequently, a healthy and productive workforce capable of taking health-related decisions is crucial in any company. This requires a holistic approach provided by the organization. Existing challenges can only be overcome by the interaction of addressing health literacy on individual and organizational levels. This literature review is dedicated to the question of how organizational health literacy differs from other contextual constructs. In addition, the current state of research on the relationship between organizational and individual health literacy in companies outside the healthcare sector are addressed.
Methods
An exploratory literature search involving a systematic procedure was conducted in 20 different sources (7 databases, 9 journals and 4 libraries) in order to identify publications focusing on the relationship between organizational and individual health literacy in companies outside the healthcare sector.
Results
This paper reveals that the construct of organizational health literacy is a complex and heterogeneously conceived phenomenon. In addition, there are only a limited number of approaches focusing on the setting of the working environment outside of healthcare. A comparison of these shows that there are both similarities and differences, e.g. with regard to health outcomes. Nevertheless, it is not entirely possible to differentiate these approaches from each other. According to current studies, the connection between individual health literacy and mental well-being is mediated by organizational health literacy.
Conclusion
The results demonstrate the dearth of research on the concept and its correlation with health outcomes. Therefore, further practical and research efforts are required in future in order to gain a more in-depth understanding of organizational health literacy in companies outside the healthcare sector for understanding the complex relationships between organizational and individual health literacy.
