Open research questions in Health Literacy and Information Accessibility
784 gap statements mined from Health Literacy and Information Accessibility papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 3,607 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.
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What the literature leaves open
The paper identifies the challenge of designing effective eHealth systems that cater to the health information needs of individuals. The study highlights the difficulty of promoting efficient utilization of healthcare resources due to the discrepancy between the healthcare adoption rate and the users' access rate.
Toward Effective eHealth Communication for Efficient Utilization of Healthcare Resources: A Social Interaction and Information Needs Perspective · 2026 · DOIThe gap in the literature is the lack of studies examining the linguistic and thematic patterns in the reporting of pharmacological content in tabloid media. The study identifies a need for a systematic analysis of the presentation of pharmacological content in tabloid media. The gap is the lack of understanding of how tabloid media contribute to the formation of public opinion on pharmacological topics.
There is a need to explore how shared narratives reflect the experience of living with and seeking treatment for hernia.
Patient narratives in an online hernia peer-support community: a qualitative netnographic analysis · 2026 · DOIThe need to preserve clinically relevant information while simplifying medical texts. The challenge of evaluating the effectiveness of large language models in improving patient communication.
Improving patient communication and understanding of medical reports through text simplification with ChatGPT: a comparative study · 2026 · DOIClinical and methodological heterogeneity limited the synthesis of findings. No principal-outcome assessment was judged to be at low risk of bias. The review did not include a meta-analysis due to the limited number of studies.
Teach-Back-Based Interventions for Parents and Caregivers in Pediatric Healthcare: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials · 2026 · DOIThe review identifies a need for further research to assess the effectiveness of Teach-Back-based interventions.
Teach-Back-Based Interventions for Parents and Caregivers in Pediatric Healthcare: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials · 2026 · DOIThe response rate was low, with only 4.9% of eligible adolescents completing the questionnaire. The study's generalizability is limited due to the low response rate and the specific population studied.
There is a need for a comprehensive review of interventions designed to enhance organisational health literacy responsiveness in institutional and community-based settings for children.
Interventions to Enhance Organisational Health Literacy Responsiveness in Institutional and Community‐Based Settings for Children: A Systematic Scoping Review · 2026 · DOIThere is a lack of understanding of the information-seeking behaviours of young adults with migrant backgrounds in Australia. Prior studies have not applied a theory-driven approach to understanding the information-seeking behaviours of this group.
Public Health Information Seeking Behaviours Among Young Adults With Migrant Backgrounds in Australia: A Cross‐Sectional Study · 2026 · DOIFurther research is needed to explore the relationship between digital health literacy and health outcomes. Investigating the impact of AI-supported tools on health information seeking behavior could be a future research direction. Studying the differences in digital health literacy among different populations could provide valuable insights.
Exploring E-health-literacy-related behaviours and information-seeking practices among university students in Saudi Arabia: a 2024 cross-sectional survey · 2026 · DOIThere is a need to investigate digital health literacy and information-seeking behavior among university students.
Exploring E-health-literacy-related behaviours and information-seeking practices among university students in Saudi Arabia: a 2024 cross-sectional survey · 2026 · DOIHL is a relatively new concept, which impacts various aspects in different ways. The evidence required to drive stakeholder decision-making processes is highly heterogeneous, inadequately addressed systematically, and still lacking in some fields, therefore limiting its generalizability and applicability.
The lack of awareness of the importance of health literacy. The limited evidence on the impact of health literacy on environmental sustainability. The need for a comprehensive life cycle inventory database for medical devices and drugs, alongside the implementation of standardized sustainability performance metrics.
Yet, little is known about health literacy in patients with colorectal liver metastases.
However, its relationship with cardiovascular health during and after pregnancy is not well known.
It underscores the need for further investigation into the complex association between CHL and different health behaviors to better understand its potential in health communication and policy development.
Mapping the Landscape of Critical Health Literacy: A Comprehensive Scoping Review of Research Trends and Associations with Health Behaviors · 2026 · DOIHowever, there are many research gaps, as well as a lack of consensus and limited guidelines regarding how to conduct readability assessments.
Research Priorities for Readability Assessment of Health Information: A Modified eDelphi Study · 2026 · DOIParents of children with rare diseases face unique challenges due to scarce medical expertise and limited information sources.
Facebook as a Lifeboat: An Interview Study Exploring the Role of Facebook in Supporting Parents of Children with Rare Diseases · 2026 · DOIAdopt longitudinal or mixed-methods designs to examine causal relationships between items such as subjective norms and perceived information-gathering capacity with information seeking behaviour over time. Investigate how this youth evaluate credibility and manage misinformation in digital environments.
Public Health Information Seeking Behaviours Among Young Adults With Migrant Backgrounds in Australia: A Cross‐Sectional Study · 2026 · DOIPoor readability can impede self-management and decision-making, particularly for individuals with lower health literacy levels. Global disparities in access to rabies vaccine and RIG pose barriers for those in need. The inadequate use of visual aids and practical tools can limit the actionability of online rabies information.
The Deadly Details: How Clear and Complete Are Publicly Available Sources of Human Rabies Information? · 2025 · DOIInvestigating the factors that influence the adoption and utilization of eHealth systems among different age groups - Examining the impact of eHealth literacy on health behavior…
Toward Effective eHealth Communication for Efficient Utilization of Healthcare Resources: A Social Interaction and Information Needs Perspective · 2026 · DOIFurther research could investigate the impact of BILD's reporting on public opinion and behavior, - A comparative study with other media outlets could provide more insight into the differences and similarities in reporting on pharmacological…
No formal a priori sample-size calculation was performed, - The sample size was determined by the recruitment strategy of the broader study, - The generalizability of the findings is limited, - No independent validation, back-translation, or cognitive testing was performed for the Italian…
Among these 28 studies, the majority identified significant associations between CHL and various health behaviors, while others reported mixed results.
Mapping the Landscape of Critical Health Literacy: A Comprehensive Scoping Review of Research Trends and Associations with Health Behaviors · 2026 · DOIIn doing so, it extends an established body of evidence to an understudied clinical population.
Electronic Health Literacy and Health-Related Quality of Life in Endometrial Cancer Survivors: A Cross-Sectional Study · 2026 · DOI
Most-cited papers in Health Literacy and Information Accessibility
- Convergent and discriminant validation by the multitrait-multimethod matrix. · Psychological Bulletin · 1959 · 11,622 citations
- DISCERN: an instrument for judging the quality of written consumer health information on treatment choices. · Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health · 1999 · 2,914 citations
- The evolving concept of health literacy · Social Science & Medicine · 2008 · 2,337 citations
- Empirical Studies Assessing the Quality of Health Information for Consumers on the World Wide Web · JAMA · 2002 · 1,457 citations
- Association of Health Literacy With Diabetes Outcomes · JAMA · 2002 · 1,375 citations
- Health Literacy: Report of the Council on Scientific Affairs · JAMA · 1999 · 1,047 citations
- The Swedish SF-36 Health Survey—I. Evaluation of data quality, scaling assumptions, reliability and construct validity across general populations in Sweden · Social Science & Medicine · 1995 · 926 citations
- Closing the Loop · Archives of Internal Medicine · 2003 · 914 citations
- Health Information on the Internet · JAMA · 2001 · 911 citations
- Understanding and Responding to Health Literacy as a Social Determinant of Health · Annual Review of Public Health · 2020 · 904 citations
Most recent work
- The Quality of Evidence of and Engagement With Video Medical Claims · JAMA Network Open · 2026
- Quality and reliability of sarcopenia-related videos on BiliBili and TikTok: a cross-sectional content analysis study · BMC Public Health · 2026
- Digital health literacy in medical education: a scoping review of current challenges and development strategies · BMC Medical Education · 2026
- Mapping the Landscape of Critical Health Literacy: A Comprehensive Scoping Review of Research Trends and Associations with Health Behaviors · Journal of Health Communication · 2026
- Assessment and analysis of content and quality of children's influenza vaccine information on BiliBili, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu · Frontiers in Digital Health · 2026
- Mapping Health Information Avoidance Among Older Adults in China: Informational, Social and Psychological Dynamics in the Social Media Landscape · Health Communication · 2026
- Educational performance of TikTok short videos for age related macular degeneration and its link to user engagement · Frontiers in Medicine · 2026
- A medication literacy instrument for older chronic disease patients in China: development and validation · BMC Geriatrics · 2026
- Short-form video platforms as a source of ankylosing spondylitis information: a cross-sectional content analysis · Frontiers in Digital Health · 2026
- Digital illiteracy and access to remote patient monitoring in oncology: a multicentre study of healthcare providers' perceptions and patient-reported digital literacy · EClinicalMedicine · 2026
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