The development and validation of the european health literacy survey (hls.eu)

Fullam, James [University College Dublin] Doyle, Gerardine [University College Dublin] Sorensen, Kristine [Maastricht University] Van den Broucke, Stephan [UCL] Kondilis, Barbara [Hellenic American University]

Health Literacy (HL) encompasses people’s capacities, skills, knowledge and motivation to access, understand, appraise and use health information. HL is an essential component for successful use of health services, disease prevention and management and health promotion. Its emergence as a field of study in Europe has led to a need to define the meaning of HL in the European context. An integrative conceptual model of HL has been developed. On the basis of this conceptual model, an instrument has been developed to measure HL. The validation of this instrument followed a sequential exploratory mixed method design using; (i) convenience sample focus groups in Ireland (n=6), Greece (n=6) and the Netherlands (n=6), (ii) a pilot study in Ireland and the Netherlands (n=50 in each country). Samples were representative of all education and age levels that may be recruited into final survey. The results of the focus groups were incorporated into the pilot study iteration of the instrument and the results of the pilot were statistically analysed. The statistical analysis of the pilot study showed the dimensions (12) of the conceptual model can be reproduced factoranalytically, confirming the conceptual model. Meaningful scales can be made to assess these 12 dimensions with a sufficient level of internal consistency. This work provides a methodological framework for internationally collaborative development of HL related measurement tools. The findings of the validation work have been incorporated in the final sample which will be used to collect data in ≥8 European countries in Summer 2011 (n ≥8000).