Validating Measurement of Health Literacy among Adolescents Questionnaire (MOHLAA-Q) for Malaysian Version (MyMOHLAA-Q)

Abstract

It has been determined that health literacy (HL) plays a significant factor in health and becomes an essential element in health promotion. Most HL instruments are designed for adults, whereas only a few are developed for adolescents. Thus, utilizing the existing validated instruments to assess HL is essential for success in promoting HL from the early stages of life. The Measurement of Health Literacy Among Adolescents Questionnaire (MOHLAA-Q) was developed in Germany to assess self-reported general health literacy among adolescents. This study aims to validate health literacy using MOHLAA-Q, thus establishing it as the Malaysian version of MOHLAA-Q (MyMOHLAA-Q). Face validity and content validity were done on 29 items of MOHLAA-Q. MOHLAA-Q is divided into 4 sections − A) Information about Health, B) Communication about Health, C) Attitudes towards Health and 4) Knowledge about Topic Related to Health. During the pilot testing, MOHLAA-Q administration took ∼15 minutes of 229 respondents from rural and urban areas. The internal consistency coefficients (Cronbach’s) for scales A−C ranged from 0.61 to 0.81. The final validated questionnaire is validated for 13 to 17-year-old Malay and English-speaking adolescents. The MyMOHLAA-Q experience allowed researchers to validate a measurement tool that can be used to assess health literacy among Malaysian adolescents.