Development and validation of Chinese Health Literacy Scale for Diabetes

• Published in: Journal of clinical nursing 2013-08, Vol.22 (15-16), p.2090-2099
• Main Authors: Leung, Angela YM, Lou, Vivian WQ, Cheung, Mike KT, Chan, Sophia SC, Chi, Iris
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; China; Decision making; Diabetes; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - physiopathology; Female; Health Literacy; Health promotion; Humans; Literacy; Male; Nursing; psychometric properties; Public health; Quantitative psychology; scale development; type 2 diabetes; validity
• ISSN: 0962-1067; 1365-2702
• DOI: 10.1111/jocn.12018

Aims and objectives To develop and to test the psychometric properties of the Chinese Health Literacy Scale for Diabetes. Background Patients with diabetes encounter many challenges when making health decisions in their daily lives, as they have access to many different kinds of health information. Health literacy issues are new topics in Chinese society. Without a valid and reliable instrument in Chinese, it is difficult to measure the level of health literacy and promote the concept of health literacy in Chinese societies. Design A methodological study with a sample of 137 patients with type 2 diabetes aged 65 years or older. Method Chinese Health Literacy Scale for Diabetes was developed with reference to the revised Bloom's taxonomy model. Psychometric tests (content validity, item analysis, construct validity, discriminative ability and test–retest reliability) were conducted. Correlations between Chinese Health Literacy Scale for Diabetes and four relevant measures were tested. Cronbach's alpha and alpha if item deleted were calculated to assess internal consistency. Results Cronbach's alpha for Chinese Health Literacy Scale for Diabetes and its four subscales (remembering, understanding, applying and analysing) were 0·884, 0·885, 0·667, 0·654 and 0·717, respectively. The Chinese Health Literacy Scale for Diabetes was significantly correlated with the Diabetic Knowledge Scale (r = 0·398, p