Adolescents and young adults increasingly rely on social media for health information, yet misinformation—especially regarding topics like dietary supplements and body image—can have serious consequences. This session explores the intersection of health literacy and media literacy, highlighting how health sciences and public health librarians can play a pivotal role in equipping youth with the skills to critically evaluate digital health content.
Drawing from an NNLM Outreach Grant-funded online course designed for teens, this session will share evidence-based strategies for teaching media deconstruction, countering misinformation, and integrating media literacy into library programming. Attendees will gain practical tools and resources to support media and health literacy initiatives in their own institutions.
Guest Speaker:
Jill R. Kavanaugh, MLIS, AHIP, is an embedded librarian in the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders (STRIPED) at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Jill specializes in health literacy, social media literacy, and misinformation in adolescent health.
She led an NNLM Outreach Grant-funded project developing a media and health literacy course for teens and has co-authored journal articles and book chapters on adolescent and young adult health literacy. Jill collaborates with researchers and public health professionals to advance evidence-based strategies for combating health misinformation and improving youth health literacy in clinical, research, and public health settings.
By registering for this class, you are agreeing to the NNLM Code of Conduct
- Identify key media and health literacy challenges affecting adolescents and young adults, particularly in the context of misinformation on social media and its impact on health behaviors.
- Evaluate evidence-based strategies for integrating media and health literacy education into library programs, including multimodal learning approaches, media deconstruction techniques, and hands-on content creation.
- Develop actionable plans to incorporate media and health literacy resources within health sciences and public health libraries, supporting NNLM Region 4 communities in promoting critical evaluation of health information.