Validation of the instrument of health literacy competencies for Chinese-speaking health professionals

Abstract

The study aimed to illustrate the constructs and test the psychometric properties of an instrument of health literacy competencies (IOHLC) for health professionals. A multi-phase questionnaire development method was used to develop the scale. The categorization of the knowledge and practice domains achieved consensus through a modified Delphi process. To reduce the number of items, the 92-item IOHLC was psychometrically evaluated through internal consistency, Rasch modeling, and two-stage factor analysis. In total, 736 practitioners, including nurses, nurse practitioners, health educators, case managers, and dieticians completed the 92-item IOHLC online from May 2012 to January 2013. The final version of the IOHLC covered 9 knowledge items and 40 skill items containing 9 dimensions, with good model fit, and explaining 72% of total variance. All domains had acceptable internal consistency and discriminant validity. The tool in this study is the first to verify health literacy competencies rigorously. Moreover, through psychometric testing, the 49-item IOHLC demonstrates adequate reliability and validity. The IOHLC may serve as a reference for the theoretical and in-service training of Chinese-speaking individuals’ health literacy competencies.

Competencies of health personnel for the practice of health literacy in Brazil: A Delphi consensus survey

“…The assessment of the need for social support, the educative attitude and attitudes that make patients co-responsible in the educational process were differentials of our study in relation to other lists of HCP competences in HL. Previous studies have suggested that HL theoretical knowledge is an important competency, including concepts, definitions and guidelines [16,17,24]. Em contraponto, o conhecimento teo ´rico do HL não foi priorizado pelos nossos especialistas refletindo uma proposta pra ´tica para os itens de competência.…”

“…We considered experts in health literacy to be professionals who had at least six months of experience in a care activity that involved carrying out educational activities with the patient. This time of experience in care can be considered minimal to allow the opportunity to experience HL practices, as shown by the result of a previous study [24].…”

Reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the instrument of health literacy competencies for health professionals

“…In contrast, the English version of the Instrument Of Health Literacy Competencies (IOHLC) developed by Taiwanese scholar Li‐Chun Chang for medical staff includes specific content that medical staff should design lesson plans for patients with low health literacy, simple and specific teaching, creating a friendly environment, using simple and easy‐to‐use materials, life‐oriented teaching, checking patients' understanding, encouraging patients to ask questions, designing materials for patients' self‐direction and interdisciplinary collaboration. The model fits well, with Cronbach's alphas >0.80, and can be used to comprehensively and validly assess the health literacy competencies of medical professionals (Chang et al, 2017).…”

Development and psychometric properties of maternal health literacy inventory in pregnancy

“…It should be noted that, because health literacy has a variety of definitions and structures, researchers have designed different tools for measuring health literacy in different groups, and each tool measures one aspect of health literacy. A number of known tools include oral health literacy [13], adolescent health literacy [14], health literacy in women with breast cancer [15], health literacy in people with chronic diseases such as diabetes [16,17], Asthma [18] and hypertension [19], health literacy competencies [20], scale of low salt consumption [21], and weight literacy scale [22]. Abel (2014) states that, examining health literacy in different domains requires different research approaches [23].…”