Age Adapted Survey version of the European Health Literacy Questionnaire for fourth-graders

Domains assessed: Application/function, Communication: Listener, Comprehension

Specific context: General

Validation sample population age: Adolescents: 10 to 17 years, Children: 0 to 9 years

Modes of administration in validation study : Paper and pencil

Time Cut-off: 0 minutes

Assessment: Self-reported

Number of items: 15

Sample size in validation study: 907

Administration Time (minutes): 10 minutes

Language of validated version: German

Categorical scoring: No

Modern Approach for Tool Development: No

Country where validated: Germany

Content validity: The HLS-Child-Q15 was developed with careful consideration of the target group, the underlying theoretical model and the original HLS-Child-Q47 items. Also, it was pre-tested qualitatively with members of the target group. More information on the development process and pretesting: Bollweg, T. M., Okan, O., Pinheiro, P., Bröder, J., Bruland, D., Freţian, A. M., . . . Bauer, U. (2020). Adapting the European Health Literacy Survey for Fourth-Grade Students in Germany: Questionnaire Development and Qualitative Pretest. Health Lit Res Pract, 4(2), e119-e128. https://doi.org/10.3928/24748307-20200326-01

Criterion validity: In the validation study, validity was assessed regarding correlation of the HLS-Child-Q with a cloze procedure functional health literacy test (TOFHLA-Style; convergent validity) and correlation with self-efficacy (discriminant validity). Correlation between HLS-Child-Q15 and functional health literacy was weak but significant (r = .107, p < .001). This indicates that the measured contructs ("reading comprehension" vs. "perceived difficulty or ease in dealing with health-related information") are not very similar. Correlation between HLS-Child-Q15 scores and self-efficacy indicators items was stronger (r = .280 to .306, p < .001). This indicates that self-efficacy and perceived difficulty or ease in dealing with health-related information are somewhat related, which is plausible due to the phrasing of HLS-Child-Q15 items ("how easy or difficult is it for you to....").

Reliability (Cronbach Alpha): 0.791

Reliability notes: Split-half realibility was high: r = 0.771