Article Text
Abstract
Introduction Health literacy (HL) concerns the knowledge and competences necessary for people to meet complex health demands. The aims of this study are to assess the level of HL in a sample using the Italian version of the Newest Vital Sign and the association of HL and selected antecedents with health outcomes, and to develop and validate the Italian version of the three Brief Health Literacy Screeners, two subjective numeracy items and the short form and the short-short form of the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire.
Methods and analysis The study adopts a cross-sectional design and is being conducted in Florence, with information collected through telephone interviews. The population-based sample has been randomly selected using the registries of eight general practitioners (GPs). Based on a power calculation, 480 subjects will be included. Participants have been randomly offered two different questionnaires, each containing different HL measures. Data on sociodemographics and important antecedents and consequences of HL will be collected and the distribution of HL levels calculated. The mediating role of HL will be assessed using Preacher and Hayes’ model. To assess the concurrent validity of the HL scales, correlation and receiver operating characteristic analyses will be performed.
Ethics and dissemination The study protocol has been approved by the Ethics Committee of the Area Vasta Centro. Results will be disseminated via scientific journals and conference presentations, and individual data made available to the GPs.
- health literacy
- measures
- validation
- antecedents
- consequences
- Italian language
This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
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Footnotes
Contributors CL, SM and GB: conception and design; drafted the article; gave final approval of the version to be submitted. FS, MG, VV, VL and AlB: conception and design; gave final approval of the version to be submitted. AnB and SB: drafted the article; gave final approval of the version to be submitted.
Competing interests None declared.
Patient consent Obtained.
Ethics approval Ethics Committee of the ‘Area Vasta Centro’ (Local Health Unit of Tuscany-Center, Careggi University Hospital and Meyer University Hospital; Ref. CEAVC: 10113, 01 December 2016).
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.