Health Literacy for School-Aged Children

Domains assessed: Application/function

Validation sample population age: Adolescents: 10 to 17 years

Modes of administration in validation study: Paper and pencil

Number of items: 10

Sample size in validation study: 3853

Administration Time (minutes): 7 minutes

Language of validated version: English

Categorical scoring: Yes

Scoring categories: HL levels low (score 10-25) moderate (score 26-35) high (score 36-40)

Country where validated: Belgium, Poland, Slovakia, Finland

Content validity: The phases of the systematic, iterative, and validity driven development process of the HL instrument were 1) definition and elaboration of the construct, 2) choice of measurement method, 3) item generation, 4) pilot study including test-retest, and 5) field-testing, including construction of a brief instrument and examining instruments’ international applicability. Achieving the content validity (the content of the single item matched to the certain core component of HL) was based on expert group judgement, logic, and reasoning. Furthermore, all the items were discussed with participants, in order to secure maximum comprehensibility, clarity and relevance of the items. Construct validity was assessed by confirmatory factor analysis, and the model fit parameters indicate whether the data fit the hypothesized factor structure. Pilot study of a 32-item version was conducted among 405 7th and 9th graders. 16 items were removed following the pilot test, and the 16-item version was administered to 117 pupils to evaluate test-retest reliability. 6 additional items were removed from the 16 item version to create the final tool.

Reliability (Cronbach Alpha): 0.93