Table 1 Characteristics of included records

Rudd & Anderson, 2006, USA [1]

Guidebook (Toolkit)

n. a.

Jacobson et al., 2007, USA [54]

Guidebook (Toolkit)

n. a.

NALA, 2009, Ireland [55]

Guidebook (Toolkit)

n. a.

DeWalt et al., 2010, USA [24]

Guidebook (Toolkit)

n. a.

Rudd, 2010, USA [56]

Guidebook (Toolkit)

n. a.

DeWalt et al., 2011, USA [26]

Journal article (Toolkit, feasibility std.)

Staff members (eight practices)

Brach et al., 2012, USA [2]

Journal article (Discussion)

n. a.

Institute of Medicine, 2012, USA [57]

Chapter/book (WS)

Representatives from HCO

Parker & Hernandez, 2012, USA [58]

Journal article (WS)

Representatives from HCO

Six-Means et al., 2012, USA [29]

Journal article (Implementation, case std.)

n. a.

Weaver et al., 2012, USA [59]

Journal article (Case std.)

19 staff members, 16 patients (one health center, three clinics)

Wong, 2012, USA [52]

Journal article (Discussion)

n. a.

Institute of Medicine, 2013, USA [60]

Chapter/book (WS)

Health literacy implementers from HCOs

O’Neal et al., 2013, USA [61]

Journal article (Assessment, feasibility std.)

45 staff members, 62 patients (eight pharmacies)

Thomacos & Zazryn, 2013, Australia [49]

Guidebook (Toolkit)

n. a.

Abrams et al., 2014, USA [62]

Guidebook (Toolkit)

n. a.

Brach et al., 2014, USA [23]

Journal article (Discussion)

n. a.

Johnson, 2014, Australia [63]

Journal article (Case std.)

Two consumers (one HCO)

Kaphingst et al., 2014, USA [64]

Journal article (Cross-sectional std.)

3358 adults (general population)

Palumbo & Annarumma, 2014, Italy [65]

Journal article (Evaluation std.)

40 healthcare professionals (various HCOs)

Schuman, 2014, USA [22]

Chapter/book (Discussion)

n. a.

Altin & Stock, 2015, Germany [66]

Journal article (Discussion)

n. a.

Altin et al., 2015, Germany [25]

Journal article (Validation std.)

1125 adults (general population)

Brega et al., 2015, USA [67]

Guidebook (Toolkit)

n. a.

Briglia et al., 2015, USA [68]

Journal article (Case std.)

One health care network (12 health centers)

Kowalski et al., 2015, Germany [19]

Journal article (Validation std.)

51 directors, 1224 patients (56 hospitals)

Ministry of Health, 2015, New Zealand [69]

Guidebook (Toolkit)

n. a.

Pelikan & Dietscher, 2015, Austria [70]

Guidebook (Toolkit, feasibility std.)

Three to eleven staff members per hospital (nine hospitals)

Pelikan & Dietscher, 2015, Austria [71]

Journal article (Toolkit, feasibility std.)

n. a.

Annarumma & Palumbo, 2016, Italy [72]

Journal article (Evaluation std.)

40 healthcare professionals (various HCOs)

Dietscher & Pelikan, 2016, Austria [17]

Journal article (Toolkit, feasibility std.)

Three to 11 staff members per hospital (nine hospitals)

Innis, 2016, Canada [73]

Doctor thesis (Pilot std.)

42 health care experts; 99 staff members (79 hospitals)

Napel, 2016, USA [74]

Doctor thesis (Cross-sectional std.)

102 nurses (various hospitals)

Adsul et al., 2017, USA [75]

Journal article (Qualitative std.)

11 senior staff members (11 HCOs)

Baur et al., 2017, USA [76]

Chapter/book (Discussion)

n. a.

Brach, 2017, USA [10]

Journal article (Discussion)

n. a.

Dietscher & Pelikan, 2017, Austria [77]

Chapter/book (Toolkit, feasibility std.)

Three to 11 staff members per hospital (nine hospitals)

Eigelbach, 2017, USA [78]

Journal article (Discussion)

n. a.

Ernstmann et al., 2017, Germany [79]

Journal article (Validation std.)

Five experts; 453 patients (18 cancer centers)

Farmanova, 2017, Canada [80]

Doctor thesis (Qualitative std.)

12 health service org.; nine managers (eight health service org.)

Palumbo et al., 2017, Italy [81]

Journal article (Multiple case std.)

15 experts (three hospitals)

Prince, 2017, USA [47]

Doctor thesis (Case std.)

463 employees (one health center)

Trezona et al., 2017, Australia [12]

Journal article (Assessment, evaluation std.)

42 professionals; 153 professionals (36 health and social service org.)

Wieczorek et al., 2017, Austria [82]

Journal article (Assessment, evaluation std.)

Six to 15 youth workers/federal state (six youth work settings in three fed. states)

Hayran & Özer, 2018, Turkey [83]

Journal article (Cross-sectional std.)

18 managers and 1459 patients (three hospitals)

Leonard et al., 2018, USA [84]

Journal article (Case std.)

One medical center

Oelschlegel et al., 2018, USA [85]

Journal article (Case std.)

One medical center

Palumbo & Annarumma, 2018, Italy [86]

Journal article (Assessment std.)

16 senior managers/staff members (16 pharmacies)

Prince et al., 2018, USA [18]

Journal article (Case std.)

463 employees (one health center)

Trezona et al., 2018, Australia [87]

Journal article (Toolkit)

22 health/social service professionals (22 org.)

Trueheart, 2018, USA [50]

Doctor thesis (Multiple case std.)

13 experts (13 health org.)

Brega et al., 2019, USA [88]

Journal article (Delphi std.)

18 experts (20 org.); one patient representative

Kaper et al., 2019, Ireland, Netherlands [89]

Journal article (Longitudinal mixed-methods std.)

24 staff members, 40 service users (four hospitals)

Pelikan, 2019, Austria [90]

Chapter/book (Discussion)

n. a.

Vamos et al., 2019, USA [51]

Journal article (Development of teaching tool)

One pediatric health clinic

Aaby et al., 2020, Denmark [91]

Journal article (Case std., feasibility std.)

Three managers and four therapeutic teams (one rehabilitation unit)

Bonaccorsi et al., 2020, Italy [92]

Journal article (Cross-sectional std.)

405 healthcare managers (20 hospitals)

Goldsmith et al., 2020, USA [93]

Journal article (Framework)

n. a.

NASEM, 2020, USA [94]

Chapter/book (WS)

Patients; health care professionals; various stakeholders (various org.)

Rathmann et al., 2020, Germany [48]

Journal article (Explorative std.)

130 managers/staff (130 facilities for people with disabilities); eight staff members (eight facilities for people with disabilities)