A New Comprehensive Short-form Health Literacy Survey Tool for Patients in General

Tuyen Van Duong; Peter WuShou Chang; Shih-Hsien Yang; Ming-Chu Chen; Wei-Ting Chao; Tara Chen; Priscilla Chiao; Hsiao-Ling Huang

doi:10.1016/j.anr.2017.02.001

A New Comprehensive Short-form Health Literacy Survey Tool for Patients in General

Asian Nurs Res (Korean Soc Nurs Sci). 2017 Mar;11(1):30-35. doi: 10.1016/j.anr.2017.02.001. Epub 2017 Feb 11.

Authors

Tuyen Van Duong¹, Peter WuShou Chang², Shih-Hsien Yang³, Ming-Chu Chen⁴, Wei-Ting Chao⁵, Tara Chen⁶, Priscilla Chiao⁷, Hsiao-Ling Huang⁸

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Health, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Environmental Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli, Taiwan; Institutional Research Center, Yuanpei University of Medical Technology, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan.
² School of Public Health, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Family Medicine, National Taipei Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taipei, Taiwan.
³ Department of Orthopedics, National Taipei Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Traditional Complementary Medicine, National Taipei Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Psychiatrics, National Taipei Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁶ School of Health Studies, Western University, London, Canada.
⁷ College of Arts and Sciences, Public Health Program, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, USA.
⁸ Department of Health care management, Yuanpei University of Medical Technology, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan. Electronic address: hlhuang@mail.ypu.edu.tw.

PMID: 28388977
DOI: 10.1016/j.anr.2017.02.001

Abstract

Purpose: To validate a conceptual short-form health literacy 12 items questionnaire (HL-SF12) in patient populations.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted via a convenient sample of 403 patients from three departments of a community general hospital in the northern Taiwan. Patients' health literacy was assessed with a validated HL-SF12, derived from the full scale, the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (HLS-EU-Q), as well as a single-item from Chew's Set of Brief Health Literacy Question. A reference population in Northern Taiwan (n=928) via the HLS-EU-Q in 2013-2014 was used as a reference to compare the health literacy between that of the general public and the patients. Data was analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), internal consistency analysis, correlation analysis, and linear regression models.

Results: Patients' health literacy assessed with the HL-SF12 was shown with high internal consistency (Cronbach α=.87), and moderately correlated with the single-item from Chew's Set of Brief Health Literacy Question, with satisfactory item-scale convergent validity (item-scale correlation ≥ .40), without floor/ceiling effect, and with satisfactory goodness of fit indices of the three-factor construct model for most of the patients. Their health literacy was significantly positively associated with female gender, higher income, and more often watching health-related TV programs. On the other hands, patients were reported with significantly higher healthcare health literacy than the general public, but not in general health literacy, disease prevention health literacy, or health promotion health literacy.

Conclusion: The comprehensive HL-SF12 was a valid and easy to use tool for assessing patients' health literacy in the hospitals to facilitate healthcare providers in enhancing patients' health literacy and healthcare qualities.

Keywords: health literacy; hospitals; patients; surveys.

MeSH terms

Adult
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Health Literacy*
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Patients*
Surveys and Questionnaires*
Taiwan