Adaptation of Health Literacy Scale to Turkish: Validity and Reliability Study

Abstract

Aim: The study was conducted to adopt the Health Literacy Scale (HLS) to Turkish, and to test its validity and reliability. Methods: This study population of this methodological study consists of individuals admitted to two Family Health Centers located in the Province of Erzurum between October and December 2014. The sample of the study consisted of 171 individuals who agreed to participate in the research and selected by the non-probability random sampling method. The study data were collected using "Introductory Information Form", and Turkish version of the "Health Literacy Scale". The item-total score correlations, Cronbach's alpha, and factor analysis were used for the internal consistency test of the Turkish version of the scale. Results: After analyzing the factor structure of the Health Literacy Scale, a three-factor structure has emerged, explaining 72% of the variance and having eigenvalues over 1.00. The items that make up the three-factor structure of the 14-item health literacy scale remained the same as the original. The Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient of the Health Literacy Scale was found to be 0.85. In the internal consistency analysis of the scale, the item-total score correlations were examined, the values were found to be in the range 0.24-0.66, and no item was removed from the scale. Conclusion: The Turkish form of the Health Literacy Scale was found to be valid and reliable instrument in determining health literacy levels of the people. This study is in the nurses ' health literacy levels of individuals they care to determine if they can use a measuring tool.

Keywords

• reliability
• validity
• literacy
• health