Abstract:
Objective To explore the dimensional structure of Health Literacy Scale for Patients with Chronic Disease through factor analysis.
Methods A total of 1 013 patients were selected from 4 districts in Shanghai by multistage stratified random sampling method and interviewed using the Health Literacy Scale for Patients with Chronic Disease. After a database established using Epidata 3.1, the data of 516 participants randomly selected were retrieved for exploratory factor analysis by SPSS 18.0 and the data of the other 497 participants were for confirmatory factor analysis by LISERAL 8.7.
Results The results of exploratory factor analysis showed 4 common factors were extracted from the 28 items of the scale, which explained 66.274% of the total variance. Among the 3 common factors model, the 4 common factors model, and the 5 common factors model which were derived from the exploratory factor analysis, the 4 common factors model showed the best fit to our data. Its root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) was 0.080; goodness-of-fit index (GFI) was 0.85; χ2/v was 3.93; Bentler and Bonett's normed fit index (NFI), incremental fit index (IFI), and comparative fit index (CFI) were all larger than 0.9.
Conclusion The Health Literacy Scale for Patients with Chronic Disease should be composed of 24 items covering 4 dimensions: information acquisition ability, communicative interaction ability, health improvement willingness, economic support willingness.