Measuring Maternal Health Literacy in Adolescents Attending Antenatal Care in Uganda: Exploring the Dimensionality of the Health Literacy Concept Studying a Composite Scale.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this article is to test the requirement of "local independence" in the newly developed "Maternal Health Literacy" (MaHeLi) composite scale measuring health literacy in pregnant adolescents attending antenatal care.


METHODS
The 20-item scale was administered to 384 adolescents aged 15-19 years attending antenatal care in Uganda during the period July-December 2013. Rasch analysis was conducted using RUMM2030.


RESULTS
Differential item functioning was observed for 3 items. One item had disordered response categories. One subscale brought substantial multidimensionality into the MaHeLi scale.


CONCLUSIONS
Results support the use of a 12-item version of the MaHeLi scale. The article shows how Rasch analyses help us to identify violations of local independence in scales.
Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Norway.
Øystein
Ø
Guttersrud
Mpolampola Desire Alice Sandra
MD
Naigaga
Kjell Sverre
KS
Pettersen
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D016497:Adolescent Health Services; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009773:Obstetric Nursing; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence; D011295:Prenatal Care; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014454:Uganda; D055815:Young Adult