Health literacy and health promotion challenges in performing arts medicine

In recent years, the role of health literacy in determining appropriate attitudes and behaviours to health has received extensive attention. According to the World Health Organisation, health literacy refers to the ability of individuals to access, understand, and use information in ways which promote and maintain good health for themselves, their families, and their communities. It has been increasingly recognised that this information should be tailored to the specific needs of the community (e.g., performing artists) to empower them to take an active role in improving their own health outcomes. One concern recognised for well over a decade now has been the challenge for non-health-trained individuals to recognise what is reliable when searching through the highly variable sources of “health information” published on the internet.