A Short Form of the Taiwan Health Literacy Scale (THLS) for Chinese-Speaking Adults
The Taiwan Health Literacy Scale (THLS) was developed to cope with the need of measuring heath literacy of Chinese-speaking adults in Taiwan. Although the scale was proven having good reliability and validity, it was not popularly adopted by the practitioners due to the length, and the time required completing. Based on the THLS, this research further invited healthcare professionals to review the original scale for a possible shorten work. Under the logic of THLS, the research adopted an analytic hierarchy process technique to consolidate the healthcare experts- assessments to shorten the original scale. There are fifteen items out of the original 66 items were identified having higher loadings. Confirmed by the experts and passed a pilot test with 40 undergraduate students, a short form of THLS is then introduced. This research then used 839 samples from the major cities of the Hua-lien county in the eastern part of Taiwan to test the reliability and validity of this new scale. The reliability of the scale is high and acceptable. The current scale is also highly correlated with the original, of which provide evidence for the validity of the scale.
[1] H. Ishikawa, T. Takeuchi, and E. Yano. "Measuring functional,
communicative, and critical health literacy among diabetic patients."
Diabetes Care, vol. 31 no. 5, pp. 874-879, 2008.
[2] National Library of Medicine, Current bibliographies in medicine:
Health literacy. Bethesda, Maryland: U.S Department of Health and
Human Services, National Institutes of Health, 2000.
[3] C. R. Selden, M. Zorn, S. Ratzan, and R. M. Parker, "Health literacy:
current bibliographies in medicine (article online), 2000." Bethesda, MD,
National Library of Medicine, no. 2000-1. Available from
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/archive//20061214/pubs/cbm/hliteracy.pdf.
Accessed 14 November 2010.
[4] World Health Organization, Health Promotion Glossary. Geneva,
Switzerland: Division of Health Promotion, Education and
Communications (HPR), Health Education and Health Promotion Unit
(HEP), p. 10, 1998. D. Nutbeam, "Health promotion glossary." Health
Promotion International, vol. 13, pp. 349-364, 1998.
[5] D. Nutbeam, "Health literacy as a public health goal: A challenge for
contemporary health education and communication strategies into the
21st century." Health Promotion International, vol. 15, pp. 259-67, 2000.
[6] B. D. Weiss, "Health literacy: An important issue for communicating
health information to patients." Chinese Medical Journal, vol. 64, pp.
603-608, 2001.
[7] F. C. Pan, C. L. Su, and C. H. Chen, "Development of a health literacy
scale for Chinese-speaking adults in Taiwan." International Journal of
Biological and Life Sciences, vol. 6(3), pp. 150-156, 2010.
[8] G. S. Wilkinson, Wide Range Achievement Test. Administration Manual.
Wilmington, Del: Wide Range, 1993.
[9] G. S. Wilkinson, and G. J. Robertson, Wide Range Achievement Test-4th
Ed. Lutz, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, 2006.
[10] T. C. Davis, S. W. Long, R. H. Jackson, E. J . Mayeaux, R. B. George, P.
W. Murphy, and M. A. Crouch, "Rapid estimate of adult literacy in
medicine: a shortened screening instrument." Family Medicine, vol.
25(6), pp. 391-395, 1993.
[11] A. A. Al-Tayyib, S. M. Rogers, J. N. Gribble, M. Villarroe, and C. F.
Turner, "Effect of low medical literacy on health survey measurements."
American Journal of Public Health, vol. 92, pp.1478-1481, 2002.
[12] D. A. DeWalt, N. D. Berkman, S. Sheridan, K. N. Lohr, and M. P.
Pignone, "Literacy and health outcomes- A systematic review of the
literature." Journal of General Internal Medicine, vol. 9, pp. 1228-39,
2004.
[13] H. S. Lin, S. S. Chen, M. L. Kwo, and C. Hwang, "Health literacy in
Taiwan: A pilot study." Taiwan Joint Conference in Health Care (c5-c6),
Taipei, 2007. (in Chinese)
[14] US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease
Prevention and Health Promotion, Healthy People 2010.
http://www.health.gov/healthypeople (Retrieved at July 15, 2010).R. M.
Cervero, "Is a common definition of adult literacy possible? Adult
Education Quarterly, vol. 36(1), pp. 50-54, 1985.
[1] H. Ishikawa, T. Takeuchi, and E. Yano. "Measuring functional,
communicative, and critical health literacy among diabetic patients."
Diabetes Care, vol. 31 no. 5, pp. 874-879, 2008.
[2] National Library of Medicine, Current bibliographies in medicine:
Health literacy. Bethesda, Maryland: U.S Department of Health and
Human Services, National Institutes of Health, 2000.
[3] C. R. Selden, M. Zorn, S. Ratzan, and R. M. Parker, "Health literacy:
current bibliographies in medicine (article online), 2000." Bethesda, MD,
National Library of Medicine, no. 2000-1. Available from
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/archive//20061214/pubs/cbm/hliteracy.pdf.
Accessed 14 November 2010.
[4] World Health Organization, Health Promotion Glossary. Geneva,
Switzerland: Division of Health Promotion, Education and
Communications (HPR), Health Education and Health Promotion Unit
(HEP), p. 10, 1998. D. Nutbeam, "Health promotion glossary." Health
Promotion International, vol. 13, pp. 349-364, 1998.
[5] D. Nutbeam, "Health literacy as a public health goal: A challenge for
contemporary health education and communication strategies into the
21st century." Health Promotion International, vol. 15, pp. 259-67, 2000.
[6] B. D. Weiss, "Health literacy: An important issue for communicating
health information to patients." Chinese Medical Journal, vol. 64, pp.
603-608, 2001.
[7] F. C. Pan, C. L. Su, and C. H. Chen, "Development of a health literacy
scale for Chinese-speaking adults in Taiwan." International Journal of
Biological and Life Sciences, vol. 6(3), pp. 150-156, 2010.
[8] G. S. Wilkinson, Wide Range Achievement Test. Administration Manual.
Wilmington, Del: Wide Range, 1993.
[9] G. S. Wilkinson, and G. J. Robertson, Wide Range Achievement Test-4th
Ed. Lutz, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, 2006.
[10] T. C. Davis, S. W. Long, R. H. Jackson, E. J . Mayeaux, R. B. George, P.
W. Murphy, and M. A. Crouch, "Rapid estimate of adult literacy in
medicine: a shortened screening instrument." Family Medicine, vol.
25(6), pp. 391-395, 1993.
[11] A. A. Al-Tayyib, S. M. Rogers, J. N. Gribble, M. Villarroe, and C. F.
Turner, "Effect of low medical literacy on health survey measurements."
American Journal of Public Health, vol. 92, pp.1478-1481, 2002.
[12] D. A. DeWalt, N. D. Berkman, S. Sheridan, K. N. Lohr, and M. P.
Pignone, "Literacy and health outcomes- A systematic review of the
literature." Journal of General Internal Medicine, vol. 9, pp. 1228-39,
2004.
[13] H. S. Lin, S. S. Chen, M. L. Kwo, and C. Hwang, "Health literacy in
Taiwan: A pilot study." Taiwan Joint Conference in Health Care (c5-c6),
Taipei, 2007. (in Chinese)
[14] US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease
Prevention and Health Promotion, Healthy People 2010.
http://www.health.gov/healthypeople (Retrieved at July 15, 2010).R. M.
Cervero, "Is a common definition of adult literacy possible? Adult
Education Quarterly, vol. 36(1), pp. 50-54, 1985.
@article{"International Journal of Business, Human and Social Sciences:59635", author = "Frank C. Pan", title = "A Short Form of the Taiwan Health Literacy Scale (THLS) for Chinese-Speaking Adults", abstract = "The Taiwan Health Literacy Scale (THLS) was developed to cope with the need of measuring heath literacy of Chinese-speaking adults in Taiwan. Although the scale was proven having good reliability and validity, it was not popularly adopted by the practitioners due to the length, and the time required completing. Based on the THLS, this research further invited healthcare professionals to review the original scale for a possible shorten work. Under the logic of THLS, the research adopted an analytic hierarchy process technique to consolidate the healthcare experts- assessments to shorten the original scale. There are fifteen items out of the original 66 items were identified having higher loadings. Confirmed by the experts and passed a pilot test with 40 undergraduate students, a short form of THLS is then introduced. This research then used 839 samples from the major cities of the Hua-lien county in the eastern part of Taiwan to test the reliability and validity of this new scale. The reliability of the scale is high and acceptable. The current scale is also highly correlated with the original, of which provide evidence for the validity of the scale.
", keywords = "Health literacy, THLS, health education, STHLS.", volume = "4", number = "1", pages = "32-6", }
