Validation of the Cancer Health Literacy Test-30 for Populations Without Cancer

Area of Science:

• Health Literacy Research
• Cancer Education
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Low health literacy is linked to adverse health outcomes in cancer patients and caregivers.
• There is a need to measure cancer health literacy in populations without a cancer diagnosis.
• Interventions to improve cancer health literacy are crucial for better health outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the Cancer Health Literacy Test-30 (CHLT-30) in a population without cancer.
• To determine if the CHLT-30 is a valid and reliable measure for non-cancer populations.

Main Methods:

• Psychometric testing of the CHLT-30.
• Study conducted on 512 participants without a cancer diagnosis.

Main Results:

• The CHLT-30 demonstrated strong psychometric properties in the non-cancer population.
• Key properties included a unidimensional measurement structure and high reliability.
• Measurement was invariant across gender, race/ethnicity, and educational attainment groups.

Conclusions:

• The CHLT-30 is suitable for measuring cancer health literacy in research involving family caregivers or the general public.
• Future research could explore the CHLT-30's utility in clinical practice for patient education needs assessment.
• The CHLT-30 can be used to assess cancer health literacy in individuals with no prior cancer history.