Objective: To establish and assess a comprehensive index system on adult health literacy which related to infectious disease.
Methods: A multi-stage stratified sampling method was carried out among adults aged over 18 years, in Beijing. A questionnaire survey was used to collect the information on adult health literacy situation related to infectious disease, with answers scored. Degrees of difficulty and difference together with confirmatory factor analysis were used to screen the indications from the questionnaires so as to establish a comprehensive index system. Methods as Cronbach alpha coefficient, split-half reliability, confirmatory factor analysis and cluster analysis methods were used to assess the reliability and validity of the index system.
Results: The sample size was 13,287 with valid questionnaires as 13,001. There were 30 indexes selected to establish the comprehensive index system on adult health literacy related to infectious disease. The Cronbach a coefficient was 0.777, and the split-half reliability was 0.609. Data from Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that each of the standardized regression coefficient was significant, and there were significant differences between the groups of being clustered by Q cluster analysis method (P<0.001). 9.9% of the residents were classified as having enough knowledge on health.
Conclusion: The index system set for adult health literacy that related to infectious disease showed good reliability and validity thus could be used as a good tool to evaluate the levels of health literacy which related to infectious diseases, in Beijing.