School counselors' experiences of promoting elementary school students' health literacy during and after the COVID‐19 pandemic

This study aims to document the emotional experiences of school counselors in promoting elementary school students' health literacy during and after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic. Six school counselors were voluntarily recruited as participants and invited to be interviewed. Interview data were analyzed using Andy Hargreave's (2001) emotional geography. Findings show that school counselors felt dissatisfied, forced, and lonely when they promoted elementary school students' health literacy remotely using synchronous and asynchronous modes during the pandemic. School counselor skills should be capable of promoting elementary school students' health literacy after the COVID‐19 pandemic and beyond. Practitioner points School counselors should view a school as a critical site of health literacy promotion. School counselors need to have the knowledge and skills of promoting health literacy in schools where they are assigned to provide health‐related advice in the pursuit of improving children's well‐being with a myriad of strategies where particular digital technologies may be adopted. Any program created for children should: (a) be child friendly; (b) operate from a strength and needs‐based perspective of them, their families, and communities; (c) incorporate a local and global perspective of health literacy; and (d) prepare them to build their critical awareness of health issues.