Development and Validation of a 17 item Short-Form Health Literacy Questionnaire for Thais aged 15 years and above

Abstract

A follow-up national health literacy (HL) survey would take place during the COVID-19 pandemic. There was a need for a shorter form derived from the health literacy questionnaire used in the previous survey. This study aimed to develop and validate a short-form HL questionnaire derived from the health literacy questionnaire used in the first survey in 2019. The data from the 2019 HL survey were used to select representing items for four health domains and four HL skills. Validation of the short-form questionnaire was carried out using cognitive interviewings, field tests in six provinces, exploratory factor analysis, principal factor analysis, and internal consistency. Based on the responses from 180 participants from six provinces, a 17 item HL questionnaire was developed and validated. It showed satisfactory psychometric properties in terms of the content validity retaining the same conceptual framework used in the 2019 HL survey. The short-form had three domains with sufficient internal reliability scores (Access to reliable health information, Cronbach’s alpha = 0.82; Asking for clarification, Cronbach’s alpha = 0.78; Use of health information for making decisions, Cronbach’s alpha = 0.84). It can be concluded that the 17 item HL questionnaire was demonstrated to be a valid and reliable tool for a follow-up national HL survey during the COVID-19 pandemic.