Global Health Literacy Summit 2021
03 - 05 October 2021
Virtual

Abstract Preview

Abstract

Title
Development and Validation of an Australian parenting health literacy skills instrument: The Parenting Plus Skills Index
Type
Oral Presentation Only
Theme
Global Health Literacy Summit 2021
Topic
Research and new measures for health literacy

Authors

Main Author
Danielle Muscat 1
Presenting Author
Danielle Muscat 1
Co-Author
Kirsten McCaffery1
Don Nutbeam2
Daniel Costa 3
Julie Ayre 1

Authors' Institution

Department / Institution / Country
Faculty of Medicine and Health, School of Public Health, Sydney Health Literacy Lab / University of Sydney / Australia1
Faculty of Medicine and Health / University of Sydney / Australia2
Faculty of Science, School of Psychology / University of Sydney / Australia3
Content
Abstract Content (abstracts should be written in Size 11 font, Arial font style)

 

Background: Existing instruments for assessing health literacy skills in parents have limited scope to inform the design and evaluation of health literacy interventions. In this study we aimed to develop and validate a new online performance-based measure of health literacy for Australian parents, the Parenting Plus Skills Index (PPSI). The instrument aimed to assess functional, communicative and critical health literacy skills.

Methods: The PPSI was developed in three phases: 1) a Modified Delphi Expert Panel to provide feedback on 34 initial items (3 Australian and 5 international experts in health literacy and maternal and child health); 2) Evaluation of psychometric properties of each item using a multidimensional item response theory model in a sample of Australian adults of parenting age (20-44 years) (N=500); 3) Assessment of subset of items in an independent sample (N=500), and assessment of criterion validity (associations with other health literacy instruments).


Findings: Following the three phases, 13 items were included in the final instrument. These items covered topics such as immunisation, healthy eating, body temperature, medicine dosage and timing, physical activity, and evaluated functional, communicative and critical health literacy skills, including those related to searching for information online. Participants scored on average 8.9/13 (69%). The instrument demonstrated acceptable reliability (r=0.70) and was significantly correlated with other performance-based health literacy instruments (e.g. S-TOFHLA: r=0.70; Newest Vital Sign: r=0.65).


Discussion: The PPSI is a validated 13-item online performance-based instrument that assesses health literacy skills for parents in an Australian setting. It demonstrates strong psychometric properties, and is a brief and practical instrument that fills an important gap in available health literacy instruments that may facilitate development and evaluation of health literacy interventions. In this presentation, we will  also discuss in detail our learnings from developing a direct measure of parenting health literacy skills and offer a 13-item checklist which can inform the development of health literacy instruments for other health contexts or health conditions.
Other Topics Preferences(Maximum of two topics only and please note that the Program Committee reserves the right to decide on the final presentation format.)

1. Child and Family Health Literacy

2. Health literacy across the lifespan
Keywords:
Requires Audio or Video system for Presentation?: No