The HLS19-COM-P, a New Instrument for Measuring Communicative Health Literacy in Interaction with Physicians: Development and Validation in Nine European Countries
Hanne Søberg Finbråten, Peter Nowak, Robert Griebler, Éva Bíró, Mitja Vrdelja, Rana Charafeddine, Lennert Griese, Henrik Bøggild, Doris Schaeffer, Thomas Link, Zdeněk Kučera, Julien Mancini, Jürgen M. Pelikan
Abstract
Background: Sufficient communicative health literacy (COM-HL) is important for patients actively participating in dialogue with physicians, expressing their needs and desires for treatment, and asking clarifying questions. There is a lack of instruments combining communication and HL proficiency. Hence, the aim was to establish an instrument with sufficient psychometric properties for measuring COM-HL. Methods: The HLS19-COM-P instrument was developed based on a conceptual framework integrating HL with central communicative tasks. Data were collected using different data collection modes in nine countries from December 2019 to January 2021 (n = 18,674). Psychometric properties were assessed using Rasch analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Cronbach’s alpha and Person separation index were considered for reliability. Results: The 11-item version (HLS19-COM-P-Q11) and its short version of six items (HLS19-COM-P-Q6) fit sufficiently the unidimensional partial credit Rasch model, obtained acceptable goodness-of-fit indices and high reliability. Two items tend to under-discriminate. Few items displayed differential item functioning (DIF) across person factors, and there was no consistent pattern in DIF across countries. All items had ordered response categories. Conclusions: The HLS19-COM-P instrument was well accepted in nine countries, in different data collection modes, and could be used to measure COM-HL.