{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T06:49:39Z","timestamp":1791355779973,"version":"4.3.1"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791331200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Rapid population aging, chronic disease prevalence, and digital information overload highlight health literacy as a critical competence for societal health promotion. This exploratory study aims to analyze theoretical dimensions of health literacy, investigate socio-demographic associations within a convenience sample of adult residents in Latvia recruited online, and synthesize these insights into a conceptual framework for health literacy promotion. A sequential explanatory mixed-methods research design was implemented in 2025\/2026. Quantitative survey data (\n                    <jats:italic>N<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u202f=\u202f320) were processed using IBM SPSS, conducting correlation analysis and non-parametric rank comparisons. In the qualitative phase, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with key health and education sector experts (\n                    <jats:italic>N<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u202f=\u202f6). Empirical results reveal a moderate positive correlation between information understanding and its practical application (\n                    <jats:italic>\u03c4<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u202f=\u202f0.383,\n                    <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.001), as well as between information accessibility and understanding in the health promotion domain (\n                    <jats:italic>\u03c4<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u202f=\u202f0.428,\n                    <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.001). Marital status was statistically significantly associated with the capacity to critically evaluate health information (\n                    <jats:italic>H<\/jats:italic>\n                    (3)\u202f=\u202f10.45,\n                    <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                    = 0.015). Reflexive thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke) highlighted barriers such as fragmentation in non-formal education, motivation deficits, and misinformation risks, while emphasizing employer engagement and digital health literacy. The proposed conceptual framework offers a hypothesis-generating, multi-level perspective for designing structured health literacy interventions within adult education environments.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1930078","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T05:51:30Z","timestamp":1791352290000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The socioecological framework for health literacy promotion in adult non-formal education: empirical findings and socioecological conceptual framework"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Aleksandra","family":"Bazileva","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Education, Languages and Social Technologies, Riga Technical University Rezekne Academy","place":["Rezekne, Latvia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Svetlana","family":"U\u0161\u010da","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Education, Languages and Social Technologies, Riga Technical University Rezekne Academy","place":["Rezekne, Latvia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"103300","DOI":"10.1016\/j.aprim.2025.103300","article-title":"Health literacy in healthy adults: a systematic review of recent evidence","volume":"57","author":"Gon\u00e7alves-Fern\u00e1ndez","year":"2025","journal-title":"Aten Primaria"},{"key":"ref2","volume-title":"Healthy, Prosperous Lives for All: the European Health Equity Status Report","year":"2019"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"159","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev-publhealth-090419-102529","article-title":"Understanding and responding to health literacy as a social determinant of health","volume":"42","author":"Nutbeam","year":"2021","journal-title":"Annu Rev Public Health"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"i13","DOI":"10.1093\/heapro\/daab153","article-title":"Building health literacy system capacity: a framework for health literate systems","volume":"36","author":"S\u00f8rensen","year":"2021","journal-title":"Health Promot Int"},{"key":"ref5","volume-title":"Latvia: Country Health Profile 2023","year":"2023"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.4159\/9780674028845","volume-title":"The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments by Nature and Design","author":"Bronfenbrenner","year":"1979"},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"897717","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2022.897717","article-title":"The social-ecological context of health literacy","volume":"10","author":"Dadaczynski","year":"2022","journal-title":"Front Public Health"},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"195","DOI":"10.1177\/074171369204200309","article-title":"Transformative dimensions of adult learning","volume":"42","author":"Mezirow","year":"1991","journal-title":"Adult Educ Q"},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"367","DOI":"10.3390\/socsci14060367","article-title":"Exploring the impact of lived experience contributions to social work and healthcare programmes: a scoping review","volume":"14","author":"Seetharaman","year":"2025","journal-title":"Soc Sci"},{"key":"ref10","volume-title":"Health at a Glance: Europe 2022: State of Health in the EU Cycle","year":"2022"},{"key":"ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"80","DOI":"10.1186\/1471-2458-12-80","article-title":"Health literacy and public health: a systematic review and integration of definitions and models","volume":"12","author":"S\u00f8rensen","year":"2012","journal-title":"BMC Public Health"},{"key":"ref12","volume-title":"International Handbook of Health Literacy: Research, Practice and Policy across the Lifespan","author":"Okan","year":"2019"},{"key":"ref13","volume-title":"5th Global Report on Adult Learning and Education: Citizenship Education: Empowering Adults for Change","year":"2022"},{"key":"ref14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1517","DOI":"10.1186\/s12889-020-09627-8","article-title":"Does health literacy mediate the association between socioeconomic status and health outcomes? 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Sci. Med.","author":"Nutbeam","year":"2008"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Public Health"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1930078\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T05:51:33Z","timestamp":1791352293000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1930078\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]]},"references-count":25,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1930078"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1930078","relation":{},"ISSN":["2296-2565"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2296-2565","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]]},"article-number":"1930078"}}