When Peppa Pig and Confucius meet, joining forces on the battlefield of health literacy–a qualitative analysis of COVID-19 educational materials for children and adolescents from China, the USA, and Europe

by Maria Świątkiewicz-Mośny, Anna Prokop-Dorner, Magdalena Ślusarczyk, Natalia Ożegalska-Łukasik, Aleksandra Piłat-Kobla, Joanna Zając, Malgorzata M. Bala

In times of pandemic, health literacy (HL) is very important, as it helps to find, understand, and use essential health information and services. According to WHO, HL is pivotal in fighting infodemic effectively, and education is a vital tool for developing it. In the presented work, we analyze 247 educational materials dedicated to children, adolescents, and their carers explaining the pandemic, prepared by the Chinese, American, German, Italian and Polish governments and international non-governmental organizations. Focusing on the textual and visual side of the documents, we investigated how the pandemic is explained and what discursive measures were used to inform young citizens about the risks and consequences of pandemic restrictions. Additionally, we verified whether the materials helped developing critical thinking, which is crucial to prevent spreading fake news and conspiracy theories. Although the analyzed materials were prepared in different cultural contexts, we identified that all of them contained simple instructions on the desired behaviours during the pandemic. Key messages relating to the importance of hygienic behaviors were often supplemented with guidelines on how to successfully complete each action. While the cultural particularities in presenting the state of the pandemic are visible, the challenges of dealing with the emotional and social crises were dominant all around the world. In our study, we argue that the possibilities of building HL were not fully exploited by the national and international institutions. Citizens were taught how to behave in unusual circumstances but not why they should behave differently. The educational materials lacked reliable knowledge that would allow them to deal with infodemic and develop critical thinking. We conclude that health education expertise worldwide should be focused on enhancing individuals’ ability to make informed health decisions and provide three recommendations regarding the process of development of health educational resources for children and the youth.