Development and Validation of a Stroke Literacy Assessment Test for Community Health Workers

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Workforce Development
• Cardiovascular Disease Prevention

Background:

• Community health workers (CHWs) are increasingly tasked with complex healthcare roles, particularly in stroke prevention.
• Existing competency assessment tools for CHWs in this area are lacking psychometric validation.
• Standardized assessment is needed to ensure effective training and education for CHWs in cardiovascular disease and stroke prevention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate the Stroke Literacy Assessment Test (SLAT) for assessing CHW competencies related to Life's Simple Seven (LS7) stroke risk factors.
• To provide a psychometrically sound instrument for evaluating CHWs' knowledge and application skills in stroke prevention education and training.
• To address the critical gap in validated assessment tools for CHWs involved in chronic disease prevention.

Main Methods:

• Iterative instrument design protocol followed by empirical testing on 68 CHWs.
• Validation using content, response processes, item analysis, and group differences.
• Internal consistency reliability assessed using Cronbach's alpha (α).

Main Results:

• A 34-item, written, structured response test (SLAT) was developed over two iterative cycles.
• The SLAT assesses factual knowledge and application of cognition related to LS7 risk factors.
• Demonstrated sufficient validity and reliability (Cronbach's α = .69) for use in CHW training.

Conclusions:

• The SLAT is a novel, valid, and reliable instrument for assessing CHW competencies in stroke prevention.
• This tool fills a critical need for rigorous competency evaluation in CHW chronic disease prevention programs.
• The SLAT supports the enhancement of training and education for CHWs in cardiovascular health.