Abstract
This study aimed to develop and validate the Korean Health Literacy Instrument, which measures Korean late school-aged children’s understanding capacity. The construct’s concepts were drawn from the literature review and interviews with school nurses and teachers. A survey was then conducted in 552 fifth and sixth graders in nine elementary schools, from 1 to 9 May 2014. The KR-20 coefficient for reliability, difficulty index, discrimination index, item-total correlation, and known group technique for validity were performed. An exploratory factor analysis was performed to test the construct validity of the instrument and its unidimensionality. The results reveal that a two-factor structure was appropriate for the Korean school-age health literacy tool (root mean square error of approximation = 0.06, Comparative Fit Index = 0.96, and Tucker–Lewis Index = 0.95). From the remaining 16 items, the internal consistency reliability coefficient of this instrument was 0.85, and the criterion-related validity was 0.62 (p < 0.001). The Korean health literacy instrument for late school-aged children was suitable for screening individuals who have limited health literacy. Based on the findings of this study, future studies must continue to conduct empirical investigations on the Korean health literacy instrument for late school-aged children
Highlights
Many people are aware of the importance of the early detection and prevention of illnesses and are interested in increasing their health knowledge to gain a healthier daily life
This was a methodological study aimed at examining the reliability and validity of the Korean health literacy instrument for late school-aged children
The subjects who participated in the evaluation of the Korean health literacy tool for late school-aged children included 552 fifth and sixth graders
Summary
Many people are aware of the importance of the early detection and prevention of illnesses and are interested in increasing their health knowledge to gain a healthier daily life. Certain people are not able to utilize available health information to prevent illness because of the lack of understanding of health information. Their activities related to effective health promotion behavior and disease prevention are limited. It was a term used to describe the ability to understand health-related words, its definition has changed over time. It gained attention as a major factor influencing the medical-related decision-making of those with linguistic disadvantages, such as the less-educated population and immigrants
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