Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Geriatric Assessment/methods* ; Health Literacy/statistics & numerical data* ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Patient Education as Topic/methods* ; Program Development ; Reproducibility of Results* ; Republic of Korea ; Socioeconomic Factors ; Surveys and Questionnaires*
Keywords
Koreans ; Rasch analysis ; elderly ; health literacy ; item response theory
Abstract
We developed and examined a shortened form of the Korean Health Literacy Scale (KHLS) with a sample of 543 elderly in South Korea. Rasch analysis of the KHLS was conducted to examine the unidimensionality of the scale, along with a confirmatory factor analysis to evaluate both the item fit and item difficulty. Based on these data the KHLS was narrowed down to 12 of the original 24 items (7 comprehension and numeracy questions and 5 health-related questions). The internal consistency of the resulting short form (S-KHLS) was 0.80. The S-KHLS is a short and reliable scale for testing the health literacy skills of elderly Korean adults