Evaluation of the reliability and validity of the health literacy scale for HPV vaccination among parents of girls aged 9-14

• Published in: Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics 2025-12, Vol.21 (1), p.2465022
• Main Authors: Lu, Yuting, Liang, Ji, Zhang, Xiayun, Yu, Shuo, Zheng, Shichen, Wei, Xiaoyan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Child; China; Female; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health Literacy; HPV; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Papillomavirus Infections - prevention & control; Papillomavirus Vaccines - administration & dosage; Parents - psychology; Reproducibility of Results; Surveys and Questionnaires; Vaccination - psychology; Vaccination - statistics & numerical data
• ISSN: 2164-5515; 2164-554X; 2164-554X
• DOI: 10.1080/21645515.2025.2465022

To evaluate the reliability and validity of the Health Literacy Scale for HPV Vaccination among parents of girls aged 9-14. A total of 830 parents of girls in grades 3-8 were sampled using convenience sampling in March-April 2024 in a school in a district of Shanghai, China, and item analysis was conducted using the critical ratio method, the correlation coefficient method, and Cronbach's alpha coefficients; Cronbach's alpha coefficients, Spearman-Brown split-half coefficients, and re-test reliability correlation coefficients were used for reliability evaluation, and content validity and validity factor analysis for validity testing. The scale was analyzed by item analysis to remove one indicator: "Whether a doctor's advice affects vaccination," and the final version of the scale consisted of 34 items divided into three dimensions: medical services (11 items), disease prevention (15 items) and health promotion (8 items). The Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the total scale, medical services, disease prevention dimension and health promotion dimension were 0.913, 0.848, 0.839 and 0.747, respectively; the split-half coefficients were 0.751, 0.743, 0.875 and 0.762; and the re-test reliability correlation coefficients were 0.794, 0.890, 0.785 and 0.837. Content validity was good, and the results of the validation factor analysis showed that the finalized scale model was an acceptable model fit (RMSEA = 0.041, GFI = 0.937, AGFI = 0.914. The reliability and validity of this scale is good and can be used as an assessment tool for HPV vaccine health literacy in this population.