TY - JOUR
T1 - Measuring health literacy in community agencies
T2 - a Bayesian study of the factor structure and measurement invariance of the health literacy questionnaire (HLQ)
AU - Elsworth, Gerald R.
AU - Beauchamp, Alison
AU - Osborne, Richard H.
PY - 2016/9/22
Y1 - 2016/9/22
N2 - Background: The development of the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ), reported in 2013, attracted widespread international interest. While the original study samples were drawn from clinical and home-based aged-care settings, the HLQ was designed for the full range of healthcare contexts including community-based health promotion and support services. We report a follow-up study of the psychometric properties of the HLQ with respondents from a diverse range of community-based organisations with the principal goal of contributing to the development of a soundly validated evidence base for its use in community health settings. Methods: Data were provided by 813 clients of 8 community agencies in Victoria, Australia who were administered the HLQ during the needs assessment stage of the Ophelia project, a health literacy-based intervention. Most analyses were conducted using Bayesian structural equation modelling that enables rigorous analysis of data but with some relaxation of the restrictive requirements for zero cross-loadings and residual correlations of 'classical' confirmatory factor analysis. Scale homogeneity was investigated with one-factor models that allowed for the presence of small item residual correlations while discriminant validity was studied using the inter-factor correlations and factor loadings from a full 9-factor model with similar allowance for small residual correlations and cross-loadings. Measurement invariance was investigated scale-by-scale using a model that required strict invariance of item factor loadings, thresholds, residual variances and co-variances. Results: All HLQ scales were found to be homogenous with composite reliability ranging from 0.80 to 0.89. The factor structure of the HLQ was replicated and 6 of the 9 scales were found to exhibit clear-cut discriminant validity. With a small number of exceptions involving non-invariance of factor loadings, strict measurement invariance was established across the participating organisations and the gender, language background, age and educational level of respondents. Conclusions: The HLQ is highly reliable, even with only 4 to 6 items per scale. It provides unbiased mean estimates of group differences across key demographic indicators. While measuring relatively narrow constructs, the 9 dimensions are clearly separate and therefore provide fine-grained data on the multidimensional area of health literacy. These analyses provide researchers, program managers and policymakers with a range of robust evidence by which they can make judgements about the appropriate use of the HLQ for their community-based setting.
AB - Background: The development of the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ), reported in 2013, attracted widespread international interest. While the original study samples were drawn from clinical and home-based aged-care settings, the HLQ was designed for the full range of healthcare contexts including community-based health promotion and support services. We report a follow-up study of the psychometric properties of the HLQ with respondents from a diverse range of community-based organisations with the principal goal of contributing to the development of a soundly validated evidence base for its use in community health settings. Methods: Data were provided by 813 clients of 8 community agencies in Victoria, Australia who were administered the HLQ during the needs assessment stage of the Ophelia project, a health literacy-based intervention. Most analyses were conducted using Bayesian structural equation modelling that enables rigorous analysis of data but with some relaxation of the restrictive requirements for zero cross-loadings and residual correlations of 'classical' confirmatory factor analysis. Scale homogeneity was investigated with one-factor models that allowed for the presence of small item residual correlations while discriminant validity was studied using the inter-factor correlations and factor loadings from a full 9-factor model with similar allowance for small residual correlations and cross-loadings. Measurement invariance was investigated scale-by-scale using a model that required strict invariance of item factor loadings, thresholds, residual variances and co-variances. Results: All HLQ scales were found to be homogenous with composite reliability ranging from 0.80 to 0.89. The factor structure of the HLQ was replicated and 6 of the 9 scales were found to exhibit clear-cut discriminant validity. With a small number of exceptions involving non-invariance of factor loadings, strict measurement invariance was established across the participating organisations and the gender, language background, age and educational level of respondents. Conclusions: The HLQ is highly reliable, even with only 4 to 6 items per scale. It provides unbiased mean estimates of group differences across key demographic indicators. While measuring relatively narrow constructs, the 9 dimensions are clearly separate and therefore provide fine-grained data on the multidimensional area of health literacy. These analyses provide researchers, program managers and policymakers with a range of robust evidence by which they can make judgements about the appropriate use of the HLQ for their community-based setting.
KW - Bayesian structural equation modelling
KW - BSEM
KW - Health literacy
KW - Health Literacy Questionnaire
KW - HLQ
KW - Measurement invariance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84995407505&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12913-016-1754-2
DO - 10.1186/s12913-016-1754-2
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 27659559
AN - SCOPUS:84995407505
SN - 1472-6963
VL - 16
SP - 1
EP - 14
JO - BMC Health Services Research
JF - BMC Health Services Research
M1 - 508
ER -