Shaping alcohol health literacy: a systematic concept analysis and review

Aim: This study uses an innovative methodology to understand the implications of applying the emerging concept of health literacy to other contexts using the example of alcohol. Method: An Evolutionary Concept Analysis combined with the principles and standards of the Systematic Review process enables a rigorous analysis of the conceptual representation of alcohol health literacy. Key results: Alcohol health literacy includes a wide range of attributes that encompass many different health literacies beyond simply the capacity to understand alcohol-related harms and use that information in decision-making. Alcohol health literacy empowers people to understand alcohol marketing and messages and how alcohol information is distributed through social networks. It is an outcome of media-related alcohol education and its consequences include health action skills and realistic expectancies of alcohol. Conclusion: The focus on health literacy which emphasises not only individual skills but also draws attention to the social determinants of alcohol use and how alcohol health literacy is shaped by social networks and interactions provides important lessons for alcohol health promotion interventions. Health literacy when applied to alcohol includes many different domains and the innovative method used here provides a framework to develop interventions that build health literacy in different contexts. Key words: alcohol literacy; alcohol health literacy; health literacy; concept analysis; integrated review