The Swedish Version of the Electronic Health Literacy Scale: Prospective Psychometric Evaluation Study Including Thresholds Levels
BackgroundTo enhance the efficacy of information and communication, health care has increasingly turned to digitalization. Electronic health (eHealth) is an important factor that influences the use and receipt of benefits from Web-based health resources. Consequently, the concept of eHealth literacy...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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JMIR Publications
2020-02-01
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| Series: | JMIR mHealth and uHealth |
| Online Access: | https://mhealth.jmir.org/2020/2/e16316 |
| _version_ | 1818565390153809920 |
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| author | Wångdahl, Josefin Jaensson, Maria Dahlberg, Karuna Nilsson, Ulrica |
| author_facet | Wångdahl, Josefin Jaensson, Maria Dahlberg, Karuna Nilsson, Ulrica |
| author_sort | Wångdahl, Josefin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | BackgroundTo enhance the efficacy of information and communication, health care has increasingly turned to digitalization. Electronic health (eHealth) is an important factor that influences the use and receipt of benefits from Web-based health resources. Consequently, the concept of eHealth literacy has emerged, and in 2006 Norman and Skinner developed an 8-item self-report instrument to measure these skills: the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS). However, the eHEALS has not been tested for reliability and validity in the general Swedish population and no threshold values have been established.
ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to translate and adapt eHEALS into a Swedish version; evaluate convergent validity and psychometric properties; and determine threshold levels for inadequate, problematic, and sufficient eHealth literacy.
MethodsProspective psychometric evaluation study included 323 participants equally distributed between sexes with a mean age of 49 years recruited from 12 different arenas.
ResultsThere were some difficulties translating the English concept health resources. This resulted in this concept being translated as health information (ie, Hälsoinformation in Swedish). The eHEALS total score was 29.3 (SD 6.2), Cronbach alpha .94, Spearman-Brown coefficient .96, and response rate 94.6%. All a priori hypotheses were confirmed, supporting convergent validity. The test-retest reliability indicated an almost perfect agreement, .86 (P<.001). An exploratory factor analysis found one component explaining 64% of the total variance. No floor or ceiling effect was noted. Thresholds levels were set at 8 to 20 = inadequate, 21 to 26 = problematic, and 27 to 40 = sufficient, and there were no significant differences in distribution of the three levels between the Swedish version of eHEALS and the HLS-EU-Q16.
ConclusionsThe Swedish version of eHEALS was assessed as being unidimensional with high internal consistency of the instrument, making the reliability adequate. Adapted threshold levels for inadequate, problematic, and sufficient levels of eHealth literacy seem to be relevant. However, there are some linguistic issues relating to the concept of health resources. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T01:40:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fb132b2df7c64130ab944285f11adc78 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2291-5222 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T01:40:38Z |
| publishDate | 2020-02-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | JMIR mHealth and uHealth |
| spelling | doaj.art-fb132b2df7c64130ab944285f11adc782022-12-21T23:21:45ZengJMIR PublicationsJMIR mHealth and uHealth2291-52222020-02-0182e1631610.2196/16316The Swedish Version of the Electronic Health Literacy Scale: Prospective Psychometric Evaluation Study Including Thresholds LevelsWångdahl, JosefinJaensson, MariaDahlberg, KarunaNilsson, UlricaBackgroundTo enhance the efficacy of information and communication, health care has increasingly turned to digitalization. Electronic health (eHealth) is an important factor that influences the use and receipt of benefits from Web-based health resources. Consequently, the concept of eHealth literacy has emerged, and in 2006 Norman and Skinner developed an 8-item self-report instrument to measure these skills: the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS). However, the eHEALS has not been tested for reliability and validity in the general Swedish population and no threshold values have been established. ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to translate and adapt eHEALS into a Swedish version; evaluate convergent validity and psychometric properties; and determine threshold levels for inadequate, problematic, and sufficient eHealth literacy. MethodsProspective psychometric evaluation study included 323 participants equally distributed between sexes with a mean age of 49 years recruited from 12 different arenas. ResultsThere were some difficulties translating the English concept health resources. This resulted in this concept being translated as health information (ie, Hälsoinformation in Swedish). The eHEALS total score was 29.3 (SD 6.2), Cronbach alpha .94, Spearman-Brown coefficient .96, and response rate 94.6%. All a priori hypotheses were confirmed, supporting convergent validity. The test-retest reliability indicated an almost perfect agreement, .86 (P<.001). An exploratory factor analysis found one component explaining 64% of the total variance. No floor or ceiling effect was noted. Thresholds levels were set at 8 to 20 = inadequate, 21 to 26 = problematic, and 27 to 40 = sufficient, and there were no significant differences in distribution of the three levels between the Swedish version of eHEALS and the HLS-EU-Q16. ConclusionsThe Swedish version of eHEALS was assessed as being unidimensional with high internal consistency of the instrument, making the reliability adequate. Adapted threshold levels for inadequate, problematic, and sufficient levels of eHealth literacy seem to be relevant. However, there are some linguistic issues relating to the concept of health resources.https://mhealth.jmir.org/2020/2/e16316 |
| spellingShingle | Wångdahl, Josefin Jaensson, Maria Dahlberg, Karuna Nilsson, Ulrica The Swedish Version of the Electronic Health Literacy Scale: Prospective Psychometric Evaluation Study Including Thresholds Levels JMIR mHealth and uHealth |
| title | The Swedish Version of the Electronic Health Literacy Scale: Prospective Psychometric Evaluation Study Including Thresholds Levels |
| title_full | The Swedish Version of the Electronic Health Literacy Scale: Prospective Psychometric Evaluation Study Including Thresholds Levels |
| title_fullStr | The Swedish Version of the Electronic Health Literacy Scale: Prospective Psychometric Evaluation Study Including Thresholds Levels |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Swedish Version of the Electronic Health Literacy Scale: Prospective Psychometric Evaluation Study Including Thresholds Levels |
| title_short | The Swedish Version of the Electronic Health Literacy Scale: Prospective Psychometric Evaluation Study Including Thresholds Levels |
| title_sort | swedish version of the electronic health literacy scale prospective psychometric evaluation study including thresholds levels |
| url | https://mhealth.jmir.org/2020/2/e16316 |
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