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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Quantitative Psychology and Measurement
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1428434

Health Literacy in Adolescents and Young Adults in Benin: French Translation and Validation of the Health Literacy Measure for Adolescents' Questionnaire

Provisionally accepted
Bonaventure Ikediashi Bonaventure Ikediashi 1*Cristina Ehrmann Cristina Ehrmann 2Gisela Michel Gisela Michel 1
  • 1 Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, University of Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland
  • 2 Swiss Paraplegic Research, Nottwil, Switzerland

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The Health Literacy Measure for Adolescents (HELMA) is a self-assessment validated tool used to measure health literacy in adolescents. This study aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of the French translation of the Health Literacy Measure for Adolescents (F-HELMA).The HELMA questionnaire was translated according to the World Health Organization's (WHO) recommendation for translation and adaptation of instruments. It was pre-tested with 30 students. Subsequently, 495 adolescents and young adults from 5 senior secondary high schools in Benin completed the questionnaire. A sample of 44 participants completed the questionnaire twice over a two-week period to determine the test-retest reliability. Construct validity was evaluated using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to determine construct validity and Convergent validity was analyzed the Health Literacy Assessment Tool (HLAT8).The F-HELMA -French translation of the Health Literacy Measure for Adolescents, showed moderate to good psychometric properties. Confirmatory Factor Analysis showed good fit indices for a seven-factor model. Reliability figures fell within an acceptable range; Cronbach's alpha ranged from 0.64 (moderate) to 0.89 (good) across the different subscales, and the intraclass coefficient (ICC) ranged from 0.82 to 0.96, indicating good test-retest reliability. Pearson correlation with HLAT8 showed good convergent validity (r = 0.54, P<0.001). This study provides support for the use of the F-HELMA, as a valid and reliable instrument to measure health literacy in adolescents and young adults French speaking countries.

    Keywords: Health Literacy, Adolescents and young adult (AYA), Translation and validation, psychometric properties, Benin

    Received: 06 May 2024; Accepted: 12 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Ikediashi, Ehrmann and Michel. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Bonaventure Ikediashi, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, University of Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.