Characteristics
Domains assessed:
Prose: Comprehension, Numeracy, Comprehension
Specific context:
Health Promotion
Validation sample population age:
Adults: 18 to 64 years
Modes of administration in validation study:
Phone-based
Psychometrics
Number of items:
44
Sample size in validation study:
1058
Language of validated version:
German
Main article reference
Nolte S, Osborne RH, Dwinger S, Elsworth GR, Conrad ML, et al. (2017) German translation, cultural adaptation, and validation of the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ). PLOS ONE 12(2): e0172340. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0172340.
Corresponding author
Sandra Nolte
Description
A tool to measure adult health literacy and validate the HLQ in German.
Year Measure first Published: 2017
About This Measure
Categorical scoring:
No
Scoring categories:
The first five scales are scored on a 4-point Likert-type response scale (Strongly disagree, Disagree, Agree, Strongly agree), later referred to as ‘Part I items’. The latter four scales are scored on a 5-point response scale where respondents rate the items by level of difficulty in undertaking a task (ranging from Cannot do to Very easy), later referred to as ‘Part II items.
About the Validation of this Measure
Country where validated:
Germany
Content validity:
The development of the tool followed the protocol mandated by the authors of HLQ. The processed included forward and blinded back-translation by two different professional and registered translators taking in count cultural appropriateness and measurement equivalence. The final questionnaire was approved after an 8-hour consensus teleconference.
Reliability (Cronbach Alpha):
0.77
Reliability notes:
In detail, these were: α = 0.86 for ‘1. Feeling understood and supported by healthcare providers’, α = 0.81 for ‘2. Having sufficient information to manage my health’, α = 0.78 for ‘3. Actively managing my health’, α = 0.79 for ‘4. Social support for health’, α = 0.77 for ‘5. Appraisal of health information’, α = 0.91 for ‘6. Ability to actively engage with healthcare providers’, α = 0.87 for ‘7. Navigating the healthcare system’, α = 0.88 for ‘8. Ability to find good health information’, and α = 0.84 for ‘9. Understanding health information well enough to know what to do’.
