Health literacy

Health literacy is the ability to obtain, read, understand and use healthcare information to make appropriate health decisions and follow instructions for treatment. Health literacy thus encompasses skills both required for clinicians to practice evidence based medicine, as for researchers and policy makers to design sound research and establish proper guidelines and recommendations. The present handbook is a practical manual and instruction for asking case-relevant questions, searching literature, critically reflecting on research, drawing conclusions, communicating the evidence, reporting formally and implementing the evidence. The book provides information and tips, supported by interactive media on the online learning platform Sophia. Basic principles of research methodology are clarified, different study designs are elaborated, tip and tricks are provided for searching scientific databases PubMed and Web of Science, risk of bias assessment and levels of evidence are explained to draw conclusion for both clinical application (critical appraised topics) and scientific reports (systematic reviews) and tools for reference management are described. This way the book is ideally suited for students, clinicians, researchers, lecturers active in health care. *Bio Prof. Dr. Mira Meeus is professor Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy at the University Antwerp and Ghent University (Belgium). As a researchers she is very active in in de the field of chronic pain, in which she produced numerous systematic reviews and original studies. Her teaching activities are mainly situated in domain of research methodology, in which she starts with educating the basics of methodology up to writing critical appraised topics and systematic reviews. Prof. dr. Nick Gebruers (1976), physical therapist, is professor at the University of Antwerp, faculty of medicine and health sciences, department of rehabilitation sciences and physiotherapy. My field of research is breast cancer related morbidities including lymphatic disorders (lymphedema). I'm author of several systematic reviews and original studies. My teaching activities are mainly situated in research sciences ans vascular pathology and vascular rehabilitation. I'm cofounder of a interuniversity course for OEdema Therapy (oedema.be).