The COVID-19 pandemic has been accompanied by rapidly emerging evidence, changing guidance, and misinformation, which present new challenges for health literacy (HL) and digital health literacy (DHL) skills. This study explored whether COVID-19-related information access, attitudes, and behaviors were associated with health literacy and digital health literacy among college students in the United States. Self-reported measures of health literacy, along with items on pandemic-related attitudes, behaviors, information sources, and social networks, were collected online using a managed research panel. In July 2020, 256 responses were collected, which mirrored the racial/ethnic and gender diversity of U.S. colleges. Only 49% reported adequate HL, and 57% found DHL tasks easy overall. DHL did not vary by HL level. In multivariable models, both HL and DHL were independently associated with overall compliance with basic preventive practices. Higher DHL, but not HL, was significantly associated with greater willingness to get a COVID-19 vaccine and the belief that acquiring the disease would negatively impact their life. On average, respondents discussed health with 4–5 people, which did not vary by HL or DHL measures. The usage of online information sources varied by HL and DHL. The study findings can inform future student-focused interventions, including identifying the distinct roles of HL and DHL in pandemic information access, attitudes, and behaviors.

Among the world’s 272 million international migrants, more than 25 million are from the former Soviet Union (FSU), yet there is a paucity of literature available about FSU immigrants’ health literacy. Besides linguistic and cultural differences, FSU immigrants often come from a distinct healthcare system affecting their ability to find, evaluate, process, and use health information in the host countries. In this scoping review and commentary, we describe the health literacy issues of FSU immigrants and provide an overview of FSU immigrants’ health literacy based on the integrated health literacy model. We purposefully consider the three most common locations where FSU immigrants have settled: the USA, Germany, and Israel. For context, we describe the healthcare systems of the three host countries and the two post-Soviet countries to illustrate the contribution of system-level factors on FSU immigrants’ health literacy. We identify research gaps and set a future research agenda to help understand FSU immigrants’ health literacy across countries. Amidst the ongoing global population changes related to international migration, this article contributes to a broad-scope understanding of health literacy among FSU immigrants related to the system-level factors that may also apply to other immigrants, migrants, and refugees.

The Russian language is the eighth most spoken language in the world. Russian speakers reside in Russia, across the former Soviet Union republics, and comprise one of the largest populations of international migrants. However, little is known about their health literacy (HL) and there is limited research on HL instruments in the Russian language. The purpose of this study was to adapt the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLS₁₉-Q) developed within the Health Literacy Survey 2019–2021 (HLS₁₉) to the Russian language to study HL in Russian-speaking populations in Germany, Israel, Kazakhstan, Russia, and the USA. The HLS₁₉-Q was translated either from English or from a national language to Russian in four countries first and then critically reviewed by three Russian-speaking experts for consensus. The HLS₁₉ protocol and “team approach” method were used for linguistic and cultural adaptation. The most challenging was the adaptation of HLS₁₉-Q questions to each country’s healthcare system while general HL questions were flexible and adaptable to specific contexts across all countries. This study provides recommendations for the linguistic and cultural adaptation of HLS₁₉-Q into different languages and can serve as an example of international collaboration towards this end.

Large diasporas of former Soviet Union (FSU) immigrants are found in the USA, Germany, and Israel. To synthesize evidence, identify limitations, and propose future directions we conducted an integrative review on the health literacy of FSU immigrants, migrants, or refugees in four languages. Following integrative review and PRISMA guidelines, we searched four databases in English and performed supplementary searches in Russian, German, and Hebrew to identify qualitative and quantitative studies on FSU immigrants and health literacy. Six articles met inclusion criteria in English and one in German; the majority were published in the last five years. Only two articles measured health literacy of FSU immigrants, which was lower than the general population. Four articles were about immigrants with a mean age ≥50 years. All articles stressed the value of translated, culturally relevant health information. The health literacy of FSU immigrants is understudied, despite clear needs. Future research should include assessments of FSU immigrants’ health literacy and include diverse (e.g., age, gender) yet well-defined populations to determine both barriers and facilitators to their health literacy. This review, an example of a multilingual search, provided a comprehensive understanding of existing literature and is a useful approach for global health literacy research.

One in every eight persons in Hawaiʻi, USA, have limited English proficiency (LEP) and are entitled to free language assistance for federally funded services under Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. They also have the right to culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS) provided by professional medical interpreters (PMIs). This study’s goals were to uncover barriers and facilitators of CLAS from the perspective of PMIs. PMIs for Filipino languages (n = 10) participated in an online survey and semi-structured interviews. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and qualitative data were analyzed using conventional content analysis. Six themes emerged in the qualitative analysis: (1) cultural and social factors that can influence patient–provider communication; (2) barriers to effective patient–provider communication: patient, healthcare provider, and PMI levels; (3) facilitators of effective patient–provider communication: patient, healthcare provider, and PMI levels; (4) COVID-19 and remote interpreting barriers and facilitators; (5) strengths and weaknesses of in-person and stand-by interpreting appointments; and, (6) recommendations: system and provider levels. Proposed interventions could include advertising language services among Filipino communities and educating them about their language rights, providing additional resources for language assistance, employing more PMIs, training staff/providers, and supporting the use of PMIs versus untrained individuals.