Development of health literacy assessment scale for Thai stroke patients

ABSTRACT

Background

One important factor influencing the treatment and rehabilitation results for stroke patients is their level of health literacy. In order to acquire comprehensive information for appropriate treatment and rehabilitation programs that will promote the optimal possible health outcomes, health literacy assessment should be done in stroke patients from the earliest stages of stroke onset.

Objectives

This research aimed to develop a health literacy assessment scale for Thai stroke patients and to evaluate the HL levels of those patients using that assessment scale.

Methods

A draft version of the scale has been developed based on the literature review and focus group discussions. After tryout, content validity, corrected item-total correlation and internal consistency were examined. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted in 400 patients with stroke to test the construct validity.

Results

The Health Literacy Assessment Scale for Thai Stroke Patients was successfully developed. The complete version featured 50 health literacy-related questions, along with seven demographic-related questions. This tool demonstrated good psychometric properties, including content validity (Item-objective congruence; IOC > 0.50), internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.951 to 0.955, overall = 0.94). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) also revealed good construct validity.

Conclusions

The Health Literacy Assessment Scale for Thai Stroke Patients (HLS-Th) is measuring five components cover all health literacy aspects necessary for Thai stroke patient. This novel measurement scale is an accurate psychometric tool for assessing the level of health literacy among Thai stroke survivors.

KEYWORDS:

• Health literacy
• patient with stroke
• assessment
• psychometric properties
• confirmatory factor analysis

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Clinical implication

Patients with stroke exhibit varying levels of health literacy, necessitating tailored interventions to optimize health literacy and clinical outcomes. Numerous medical organizations advocate for integrating health literacy assessments into standard clinical protocols. The HLS-Th is a promising tool for routine health literacy evaluation within stroke care units. By gaining insight into patients’ health literacy levels, healthcare professionals can employ targeted approaches commensurate with these levels, thereby enhancing the likelihood of favorable health outcomes.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10749357.2023.2275091

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Faculty of Medicine, Thammasat University [(grant no.2-24/2565)].