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Short Assessment of Health Literacy (Hindi)

Characteristics

Domains assessed: Organizational Health Literacy
Specific context: General
Validation sample population age: Adults: 18 to 64 years, Older Adults: 65+ years
Modes of administration in validation study : Face-to-face
Assessment: Objective
Cost: Free

Psychometrics

Sample size in validation study: 250
Language of validated version: Hindi

Main article reference

Sharma, D. (2026). Cross-cultural Adaptation and Psychometric Validation of 3 Health Literacy Instruments (SAHL-E, AAHLS, and HLS-EU-Q47) in Hindi Among Rural Adults in North India. Journal of Preventive Medicine & Public Health, 59, 194-203. https://doi.org/10.3961/jpmph.25.893

Link to article

Corresponding author

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Description

The study validates three tools for Hindi-speaking adults: SAHL-E (18 items) objectively assesses functional health literacy through word recognition and comprehension; AAHLS (14 items) evaluates self-reported functional, communicative, and critical literacy; HLS-EU-Q47 (47 items) comprehensively measures accessing, understanding, appraising, and applying health information.

Year Measure first Published: 2026

Additional Articles:

About This Measure

Categorical scoring: No
Reliability: Test-retest correlation: .88
Modern Approach for Tool Development: No

About the Validation of this Measure

Country where validated: India
Content validity: Translation followed forward-backward procedures. Blinded back-translations were assessed by a multidisciplinary expert panel for semantic, idiomatic, experiential, and conceptual equivalence. Pretesting was then conducted with 20 adults via cognitive interviews to evaluate clarity and cultural acceptability.
Criterion validity: Convergent validity was supported by moderate-to-strong positive correlations among total scores: SAHL-E with AAHLS (r=0.48), SAHL-E with HLS-EU-Q47 (r=0.42), and AAHLS with HLS-EU-Q47 (r=0.61); all p<0.001.
Reliability (Cronbach Alpha): 0.84
Additional Notes: This page covers the SAHL-E in specific.
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