Use of the English Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ) with Health Science University Students in Nepal: A Validity Testing Study

Shyam Sundar Budhathoki, Melanie Hawkins, Gerald Elsworth, Michael T. Fahey, Jeevan Thapa, Sandeepa Karki, Lila Bahadur Basnet, Paras K. Pokharel and Richard H. Osborne
Additional contact information
Shyam Sundar Budhathoki: Department of Primary Care and Public Health, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, St. Mary’s Campus, London W2 1PG, UK
Melanie Hawkins: Centre for Global Health and Equity, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC 3122, Australia
Gerald Elsworth: Centre for Global Health and Equity, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC 3122, Australia
Michael T. Fahey: Department of Health Sciences and Biostatistics, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC 3122, Australia
Jeevan Thapa: Department of Community Health Sciences, Patan Academy of Health Sciences, Lalitpur 44700, Nepal
Sandeepa Karki: Department of Health Services, Epidemiology and Disease Control Division, Ministry of Health and Population, Kathmandu 44600, Nepal
Lila Bahadur Basnet: Department of Health Services, Curative Service Division, Ministry of Health and Population, Kathmandu 44600, Nepal
Paras K. Pokharel: School of Public Health and Community Medicine, B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan 56700, Nepal
Richard H. Osborne: Centre for Global Health and Equity, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC 3122, Australia

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 6, 1-14

Abstract: Research evidence shows that health literacy development is a key factor influencing non-communicable diseases care and patient outcomes. Healthcare professionals with strong health literacy skills are essential for providing quality care. We aimed to report the validation testing of the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ) among health professional students in Nepal. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 419 health sciences students using the HLQ in Nepal. Validation testing and reporting were conducted using five sources outlined by ‘the 2014 Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing’. The average difficulty was lowest (17.4%) for Scale 4 . Social support for health , and highest (51.9%) for Scale 6 . Ability to actively engage with healthcare providers . One factor Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) model showed a good fit for Scale 2 , Scale 7 and Scale 9 and a reasonable fit for Scale 3 and Scale 4 . The restricted nine-factor CFA model showed a satisfactory level of fit. The use of HLQ is seen to be meaningful in Nepal and warrants translation into native Nepali and other dominant local languages with careful consideration of cultural appropriateness using cognitive interviews.

Keywords: health literacy development; health literacy questionnaire (HLQ); health literacy measurement; non-native English users; Nepal; Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing; university students; validation study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/6/3241/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/6/3241/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:6:p:3241-:d:767709

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().