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Subjective and Objective Measures of Health Information Literacy: Do They Provide Complementary or Redundant Information?

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Information Literacy in the Workplace (ECIL 2017)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 810))

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Abstract

The present study examines the psychometric properties and the usefulness of the Health Information Literacy Knowledge Test (HILK), a 24 item multiple-choice test which aims at assessing knowledge related to determining a health information need, searching and accessing information, and evaluating its relevance and quality. 144 German university students completed the HILK together with established subjective measures of health (information) literacy and health status. Correlations of the HILK with subjective measures were at least marginally significant, supporting the assumption that both types of measures assess related constructs. In multiple regression analyses, HILK scores predicted mental and physical health status while there were no associations between subjective health (information) literacy with both health measures. It is concluded that the HILK is a research tool which complements subjective assessments of health literacy and might even be more useful when it comes to predicting health outcomes.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In this paper, I will use the terms “subjective” versus “objective” measures as synonyms to “perception-based” versus “performance-based” measures [7].

  2. 2.

    The tool was translated into German independently by two researchers (the author and a PhD student), and discrepancies were resolved by discussion. An English native speaker then back-translated the test which lead to minor refinements of wording.

  3. 3.

    Because all predictors were intercorrelated, the results were checked for evidence of multicollinearity which might bias the coefficients. All variance inflation factors were < 1.77 and all tolerances were > 0.56. These values are well below the values of VIF = 10 and tolerance < 0.2 which are usually assumed to indicate that collinearity might constitute a problem [27].

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ZPID - Leibniz Institute for Psychology Information, Trier, Germany

    Anne-Kathrin Mayer

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  1. Anne-Kathrin Mayer
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Correspondence to Anne-Kathrin Mayer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hacettepe University, Beytepe, Ankara, Turkey

    Serap Kurbanoğlu

  2. University of Paris-Est, Champs-sur-Marne, France

    Joumana Boustany

  3. University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

    Sonja Špiranec

  4. University of California (UCLA), Los Angeles, California, USA

    Esther Grassian

  5. University of California (UCLA), Los Angeles, California, USA

    Diane Mizrachi

  6. University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA

    Loriene Roy

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Mayer, AK. (2018). Subjective and Objective Measures of Health Information Literacy: Do They Provide Complementary or Redundant Information?. In: Kurbanoğlu, S., Boustany, J., Špiranec, S., Grassian, E., Mizrachi, D., Roy, L. (eds) Information Literacy in the Workplace. ECIL 2017. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 810. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74334-9_50

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74334-9_50

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-74333-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-74334-9

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