title: Validation of the instrument of health literacy competencies for Chinese-speaking health professionals.
abstract: The study aimed to illustrate the constructs and test the psychometric properties of an instrument of health literacy competencies (IOHLC) for health professionals. A multi-phase questionnaire development method was used to develop the scale. The categorization of the knowledge and practice domains achieved consensus through a modified Delphi process. To reduce the number of items, the 92-item IOHLC was psychometrically evaluated through internal consistency, Rasch modeling, and two-stage factor analysis. In total, 736 practitioners, including nurses, nurse practitioners, health educators, case managers, and dieticians completed the 92-item IOHLC online from May 2012 to January 2013. The final version of the IOHLC covered 9 knowledge items and 40 skill items containing 9 dimensions, with good model fit, and explaining 72% of total variance. All domains had acceptable internal consistency and discriminant validity. The tool in this study is the first to verify health literacy competencies rigorously. Moreover, through psychometric testing, the 49-item IOHLC demonstrates adequate reliability and validity. The IOHLC may serve as a reference for the theoretical and in-service training of Chinese-speaking individuals' health literacy competencies.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Gui-Shan Town, Tao-Yuan County, Taiwan R.O.C.
authors.forename: Li-Chun
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Nursing, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan R.O.C.
authors.forename: Yu-Chi
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Management, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan R.O.C.
authors.forename: Li-Ling
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Gui-Shan Town, Tao-Yuan County, Taiwan R.O.C.
authors.forename: Fei Ling
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Gui-Shan Town, Tao-Yuan County, Taiwan R.O.C.
authors.forename: Pei-Lin
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Hsieh
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Gui-Shan Town, Tao-Yuan County, Taiwan R.O.C.
authors.forename: Hsiao-Jung
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6509-6582
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People; D005260:Female; D057220:Health Literacy; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult