Abstract:

Objective To translate the Health Literacy Scale（HLS）into Chinese,and assess the reliability and validity of Health Literacy Scale-Chinese（HLS-C）. Methods Brislin translation model was utilized to translate and back-translate the HLS,cross-cultural revision of the translated HLS was carried out through expert consulting and pilot survey. An expert panel（n=6） was used to evaluate the content validity of HLS-C. The construct validity and internal consistency were tested in 164 diabetes patients from four hospitals in Guangzhou. Results The item-level CVI of HLS-C was 0.83~1.00,the scale-level CVI was 0.99.The results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the χ ²/df was 1.962,the root mean square error of approximation was 0.077,the normed fit index was 0.864,non-normed fit index was 0.909,incremental fit index was 0.928,and comparative fit index was 0.927. The factor loads of each item ranged from 0.47 to 0.91,which was consistent with the original scale. Cronbach’s α coefficient of the scale was 0.868. Conclusion HLS-C has been proved to be valid and reliable,which can be used to evaluate the health literacy of Chinese patients with diabetes,and guide the implementation of diabetes health education.

Key words: Diabetes Mellitus, Health Literacy, Reliability, Validity