# Public health nurses’ experiences with work aimed at increasing adolescents’ health literacy: a qualitative study

## TL;DR

This study explores how public health nurses help adolescents improve their health literacy through various approaches, including dealing with social media influences and involving parents.

## Contribution

The study provides new insights into the strategies public health nurses use to enhance adolescent health literacy, emphasizing social media and parental involvement.

## Key findings

- Public health nurses use multiple approaches to enhance adolescents' health literacy.
- Adolescents' health information is influenced by social media.
- Parental involvement is crucial for improving adolescent health literacy.

## Abstract

Health literacy is essential for maintaining good health by enabling individuals to make informed and beneficial health choices in their daily lives. Enhancing health literacy in adolescents is important, because it can empower them to become more engaged with and actively participate in their own health. More knowledge is needed on how public health nurses work to enhance health literacy among adolescents. Therefore, the objective of this study is to explore public health nurses’ experiences with work aimed at enhancing adolescents’ health literacy.

The study was inspired by a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach. A qualitative research method was used, in which eight public health nurses from the school health service in the southern part of Norway were interviewed individually. The data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis approach.

Three main themes were identified: (1) Public health nurses use multiple approaches to enhance adolescents’ health literacy; (2) Health information during adolescence is influenced by social media; and (3) Parental involvement is crucial during adolescence.

This study demonstrates the unique position of public health nurses in enhancing health literacy among adolescents and their parents. A core component of their work is focused on normalizing aspects of adolescents’ everyday lives, such as emotions and body image, which is vital considering adolescents’ exposure to unrealistic social media images and misleading health information found online. Furthermore, public health nurses play an important role in maintaining parental involvement, and they offer reliable, evidence-based guidance and support to adolescents and parents.

Not applicable.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12912-025-03976-z.