Quick assessment of literacy in primary care: the newest vital sign.
OBJECTIVE
Current health literacy screening instruments for health care settings are either too long for routine use or available only in English. Our objective was to develop a quick and accurate screening test for limited literacy available in English and Spanish.


METHODS
We administered candidate items for the new instrument and also the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA) to English-speaking and Spanish-speaking primary care patients. We measured internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha and assessed criterion validity by measuring correlations with TOFHLA scores. Using TOFLHA scores <75 to define limited literacy, we plotted receiver-operating characteristics (ROC) curves and calculated likelihood ratios for cutoff scores on the new instrument.


RESULTS
The final instrument, the Newest Vital Sign (NVS), is a nutrition label that is accompanied by 6 questions and requires 3 minutes for administration. It is reliable (Cronbach alpha >0.76 in English and 0.69 in Spanish) and correlates with the TOFHLA. Area under the ROC curve is 0.88 for English and 0.72 for Spanish versions. Patients with more than 4 correct responses are unlikely to have low literacy, whereas fewer than 4 correct answers indicate the possibility of limited literacy.


CONCLUSIONS
NVS is suitable for use as a quick screening test for limited literacy in primary health care settings.
Weiss
Barry D
BD
University of Arizona College of Medicine, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Tucson 85719, USA. bdweiss@u.arizona.edu
Mays
Mary Z
MZ
Martz
William
W
Castro
Kelley Merriam
KM
DeWalt
Darren A
DA
Pignone
Michael P
MP
Mockbee
Joy
J
Hale
Frank A
FA
D001130:Arizona; D004521:Educational Measurement; D004522:Educational Status; D005515:Food Labeling; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011932:Reading