Psychometric properties of health literacy measures in Persian biomedical literature: A systematic review

This study aimed to review Persian biomedical literature on psychometric properties of health literacy measures in Iran.

The Scientific Information Database (SID) and Google Scholar were searched using the keyword ‘health literacy’ in the titles of the articles. First, duplicate articles were removed from the search list. Then, articles that met the inclusion criteria were included in the study. Finally, information about the health literacy measures including development or psychometric evaluation in Persian literature were extracted and presented in relevant tables.

In all, 600 articles were identified. After excluding duplicates and papers that did not meet inclusion criteria, 26 articles were included in the review. Of these, 17 articles reported on the development of a health literacy measure. These measures assessed health literacy among general populations, specific populations, or specific topics. The remaining nine articles reported translation and psychometric properties of a number of known measures, including the TOFHLA, the STOHFLA, the NVS, the FCCHL, the OHLI, the MHLAP, the RELAM, and the Health Literacy Scale for Women of Reproductive Age.

The results indicated that the development of a new health literacy measure was more prevalent among Iranian investigators instead of using existing measures. In addition, improper reporting on the development and psychometric evaluation of measures was evident.