Psychometric properties of the Brazilian version of the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire short form

Abstract

Summary The aim of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the Portuguese Brazilian version of the instrument for measuring health literacy European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire short form (HLS-EU-Q16). The study sample consisted of 783 Brazilian adults with a mean age of 38.6 years. The data were analyzed through an extensive and robust process of testing the properties with the combination of exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and item response theory (IRT) techniques, aiming to search for strong validation evidence in the internal structure and stability step for other sub-samples. The instrument’s reliability was tested using Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s Omega. The analyses indicated the existence of only one dimension and good reliability values. The model tested with cross-validation indicated satisfactory, adequate, consistent and stable levels for EFA, IRT via item discrimination and CFA, both for primary indicators as factor loadings, communalities, item discrimination as well as for the model adequacy indicators. It is concluded that the Brazilian Portuguese version of the HLS-EU-Q16 proved to be a one-dimensional, consistent, accurate and stable model for measuring health literacy in Brazilian adults.