Concurrent validity and acceptability of health literacy measures of adults hospitalized with heart failure

Abstract

Objectives: To test concurrent validity and acceptability of the Single Item Literacy Screener (SILS), Test of Functional Health Literacy (S-TOFHLA) and the Newest Vital Sign (NVS) in hospitalized adults with heart failure (HF).

Background: Health literacy is not routinely evaluated in adults hospitalized with HF. Low health literacy is linked to poor HF self-care and hospital readmissions.

Methods: SILS, NVS and S-TOFHLA were completed by 85 patients with HF. Measures were examined for internal consistency reliability and acceptability. The NVS and S-TOFHLA were correlated with the SILS to establish concurrent validity.

Results: The NVS (α = 0.70) and S-TOFHLA (α = 0.88) were reliable. The SILS significantly correlated with the S-TOFHLA (r = -0.308). The S-TOFHLA (M = 6.16) and NVS (M = 6.10) were acceptable measures.

Conclusion: The S-TOFHLA and NVS were reliable and acceptable measures of health literacy in hospitalized HF population. The SILS correlated with the S-TOFHLA and may predict low health literacy when hospitalized. NVS total scores in this population aligned with the recent NAAL survey. Hospitalized adults with HF agreed to share the health literacy scores with their providers.

Keywords: Acceptability; Health literacy; Health literacy measurement; Heart failure; Literacy screener; Newest vital sign; STOFHLA.