title: Evaluation of a health literacy screening tool in primary care patients: evidence from Serbia.
abstract: Improving health literacy skills is important for patient comprehension of health-related topics and their ability to attend to their medical problems. Promoting health literacy is a pivotal policy for maintaining and promoting health. The objective of the present study was to translate the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA; long and short versions) into Serbian and evaluate the translated and cross-culturally adapted questionnaires in Serbian primary care patients. The translated TOFHLA questionnaires were administered to 120 patients. Additionally, a self-completed questionnaire was used. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were measured. The mean score for the TOFHLA was 73.49 (median, 78; SD = 17.94; range, 0-100) and the mean score for the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (STOFHLA) was 29.28 (median, 32; SD = 6.16; range, 0-36). Sex, age, education, self-perceived health and presence of any chronic disease were associated with health literacy scores. The internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) was 0.73 for the TOFHLA numeracy subset, 0.95 for reading comprehension, 0.94 for the TOFHLA and 0.90 for the STOFHLA. The Pearson correlation between the TOFHLA and STOFHLA was 0.89. The area under the curve of these two tests was 0.79 (95% CI, 0.602-0.817). The Serbian translated versions of the TOHFLA questionnaires offer valid measures of functional health literacy. There were no differences between the reliability and validity of the short and long TOFHLA forms.
authors: Institute of Social Medicine aljvranes@yahoo.co.uk.
authors: Aleksandra
authors: A
authors: Jović-Vraneš
authors: Institute of Social Medicine.
authors: Vesna
authors: V
authors: Bjegović-Mikanović
authors: Institute of Medical Statistics and Informatics, Medical School Belgrade University, Dr Subotica 15, Belgrade 1100, Serbia.
authors: Jelena
authors: J
authors: Marinković
authors: Institute of Social Medicine.
authors: Dejana
authors: D
authors: Vuković
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D054521:Cultural Competency; D005260:Female; D057220:Health Literacy; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011320:Primary Health Care; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055771:Serbia; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*
keywords: Serbia; TOFHLA; health literacy; primary health care