Health literacy and health-related outcomes among preschool educators: a cross-sectional survey

Abstract Background Given the increasing use of childcare services and the shortage of skilled workers, preschool educators are under particular pressure. Health literacy has previously been shown to be an asset for stress and well-being in school principals. Within the organizational health literacy in preschools project, the Health-Literate Preschools Survey aims to assess educators’ health literacy levels and investigate differences in health-related outcomes based on these levels. Methods Preschool educators from a Bavarian county participated in a cross-sectional online survey in February 2024. Sociodemographic information, health literacy, and health-related outcomes (well-being, exhaustion, psychosomatic complaints) were assessed using established self-report tools. Descriptive statistics and variance analyses were carried out using SPSS. Results The sample consists of N = 114 preschool educators from a Bavarian region (94.6% female, Ø 41.5 years). Of the educators, 23.7% showed adequate, 50.0% problematic, and 26.3% inadequate health literacy levels. Kruskal-Wallis H analyses indicated statistically significant differences in well-being (H(2, n = 113) = 14.200, p < 0.001), exhaustion (H(2, n = 114) = 6.098, p = 0.047), and psychosomatic complaints (H(2, n = 114) = 8.910, p = 0.012) across health literacy levels. Conclusions The survey provides first-time insights into preschool educators’ health literacy and health-related outcomes in Germany. Only one-quarter of preschool educators demonstrated adequate health literacy levels. Further, the findings confirm the link between health literacy and well-being and stress already shown for other samples. Health promotion initiatives for preschool staff should focus on strengthening educators’ health literacy, especially given their role model function for children. Key messages • This survey is the first assessment of health literacy among preschool educators, which is an important target group given their role model for young children. • Preschool educators demonstrated overall low levels of health literacy, which is associated with well-being, exhaustion, and psychosomatic complaints.