Psychometric properties of the Functional Literacy Questionnaire among Portuguese adolescents.

<h4>Background</h4>Robust tools to assess self-reported adolescent functional health literacy are lacking. In Portugal, the only available tool is the Newest Vital Sign for Portuguese adolescents (NVS-PTeen), though presenting modest validity and reliability properties. A new instrument-...

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Main Authors: Raquel Martins, Carolina Capitão, Rodrigo Feteira-Santos, Ana Virgolino, Osvaldo Santos
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2024-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306802
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author Raquel Martins
Carolina Capitão
Rodrigo Feteira-Santos
Ana Virgolino
Osvaldo Santos
author_facet Raquel Martins
Carolina Capitão
Rodrigo Feteira-Santos
Ana Virgolino
Osvaldo Santos
author_sort Raquel Martins
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Background</h4>Robust tools to assess self-reported adolescent functional health literacy are lacking. In Portugal, the only available tool is the Newest Vital Sign for Portuguese adolescents (NVS-PTeen), though presenting modest validity and reliability properties. A new instrument-the Functional Literacy Questionnaire (FLiQ)-was developed, inspired by the NVS-PTeen, but following the European Regulation for food labeling and targeting a balanced assessment of numeracy and verbal comprehension skills. This study aimed to evaluate several psychometric properties of the FLiQ when administered to Portuguese adolescents.<h4>Methods</h4>We conducted a longitudinal observational study with three phases: (1) Delphi panel with health literacy experts; (2) self-administration of FLiQ and NVS-PTeen to adolescents in 7th to 9th grades; and (3) re-administration of FLiQ four weeks after baseline, to the same group of participants.<h4>Results</h4>FLiQ's content validity was excellent, with an Average-Content Validity Index of .95. Overall, 372 adolescents (50.3% girls) aged between 12-17 years (median age: 13) participated in the study. Of these, 150 completed the test-retest assessment. Internal consistency was good (Kuder-Richardson Fornula-20 = .70), as well as test-retest reliability (Intraclass Coefficient Correlation = .82). FLiQ total score was weakly correlated with the school year (rho = .174), and moderately with Portuguese (rho = .348) and Mathematics grades (rho = .333). Factor analysis indicated a two-dimension structure, reflecting numeracy and verbal comprehension skills. Item response theory analysis revealed differences in difficulty and discrimination capacity among items, all with adequate fit values.<h4>Conclusion</h4>FLiQ is a valid and reliable tool. It can be used to monitor functional health literacy levels in Portuguese adolescents.
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spelling doaj-art-3efd7ec409784c4ea75ab3e1daee02b52024-11-10T05:31:10ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032024-01-011910e030680210.1371/journal.pone.0306802Psychometric properties of the Functional Literacy Questionnaire among Portuguese adolescents.Raquel MartinsCarolina CapitãoRodrigo Feteira-SantosAna VirgolinoOsvaldo Santos<h4>Background</h4>Robust tools to assess self-reported adolescent functional health literacy are lacking. In Portugal, the only available tool is the Newest Vital Sign for Portuguese adolescents (NVS-PTeen), though presenting modest validity and reliability properties. A new instrument-the Functional Literacy Questionnaire (FLiQ)-was developed, inspired by the NVS-PTeen, but following the European Regulation for food labeling and targeting a balanced assessment of numeracy and verbal comprehension skills. This study aimed to evaluate several psychometric properties of the FLiQ when administered to Portuguese adolescents.<h4>Methods</h4>We conducted a longitudinal observational study with three phases: (1) Delphi panel with health literacy experts; (2) self-administration of FLiQ and NVS-PTeen to adolescents in 7th to 9th grades; and (3) re-administration of FLiQ four weeks after baseline, to the same group of participants.<h4>Results</h4>FLiQ's content validity was excellent, with an Average-Content Validity Index of .95. Overall, 372 adolescents (50.3% girls) aged between 12-17 years (median age: 13) participated in the study. Of these, 150 completed the test-retest assessment. Internal consistency was good (Kuder-Richardson Fornula-20 = .70), as well as test-retest reliability (Intraclass Coefficient Correlation = .82). FLiQ total score was weakly correlated with the school year (rho = .174), and moderately with Portuguese (rho = .348) and Mathematics grades (rho = .333). Factor analysis indicated a two-dimension structure, reflecting numeracy and verbal comprehension skills. Item response theory analysis revealed differences in difficulty and discrimination capacity among items, all with adequate fit values.<h4>Conclusion</h4>FLiQ is a valid and reliable tool. It can be used to monitor functional health literacy levels in Portuguese adolescents.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306802
spellingShingle Raquel Martins
Carolina Capitão
Rodrigo Feteira-Santos
Ana Virgolino
Osvaldo Santos
Psychometric properties of the Functional Literacy Questionnaire among Portuguese adolescents.
PLoS ONE
title Psychometric properties of the Functional Literacy Questionnaire among Portuguese adolescents.
title_full Psychometric properties of the Functional Literacy Questionnaire among Portuguese adolescents.
title_fullStr Psychometric properties of the Functional Literacy Questionnaire among Portuguese adolescents.
title_full_unstemmed Psychometric properties of the Functional Literacy Questionnaire among Portuguese adolescents.
title_short Psychometric properties of the Functional Literacy Questionnaire among Portuguese adolescents.
title_sort psychometric properties of the functional literacy questionnaire among portuguese adolescents
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306802
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