Development and Reliability and Validity Testing of a Medication Literacy Scale for Medical College Students

Overview

Journal BMC Med Educ

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialty Medical Education

Date 2024 Nov 1

PMID 39482664

Authors

Zeng Leixiao

Sun Xiaonan

Pan Lutong

Gu Wenjing

Xiao Chang

Tang Jingqi

Dai Wenting

Kang Xiuqin

Wu Yibo

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Irrational drug use has become a global problem threatening human health. As future health professionals, medical college students' medication literacy (ML) is critical. Their mastery of medication-related knowledge will directly affect public medication safety in the future.

Methods: The initial scale was developed through a literature review and was modified through expert consultation and student interviews to form the initial scale with 14 items. In 2020, a questionnaire survey was conducted among students in a medical college for item analysis, reliability test, validity test and other analyses.

Results: The total Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.826 and split-half reliability was 0.852. The Cronbach's α coefficients for functional medication literacy, communicative medication literacy, and critical medication literacy were 0.901, 0.858, and 0.851, respectively. The item-level content validity index (I-CVI) ranged from 0.833 to 1.000 (≥ 0.78). Factor analysis of 14 items showed that KMO = 0. 852(> 0.7) and Bartlett's spherical test p < 0.001, indicating that the data are very suitable for factor analysis. Three principal axis factors were extracted by principal component analysis, and the total variance interpretation rate was 69.031% (> 40%). The confirmatory factor analysis identified a three-factor model and showed goodness of fit indices for the scale: The χ²/df = 2.623, The Goodness of Fit Index (GFI) = 0.905, The Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.950, Normed Fit Index (NFI) = 0.922, Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) = 0.938, and The Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) = 0.078.

Conclusion: A new scale for evaluating the medication literacy of Chinese medical college students was preliminarily developed, demonstrating good reliability and validity. Itcan be used as a preliminary measurement tool for assessing medical students' medication literacy. However, due to the limitations of this study, the practical application of the scale needs to be further examined in a larger sample and should be refined in future studies.

References

Pantuzza L, do Nascimento E, Crepalde-Ribeiro K, Botelho S, Martins M, de Souza Groia Veloso R . Medication literacy: A conceptual model. Res Social Adm Pharm. 2021; 18(4):2675-2682. DOI: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2021.06.003. View

Gentizon J, Hirt J, Jaques C, Lang P, Mabire C . Instruments assessing medication literacy in adult recipients of care: A systematic review of measurement properties. Int J Nurs Stud. 2020; 113:103785. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2020.103785. View

Vervloet M, van Dijk L, Rademakers J, Bouvy M, De Smet P, Philbert D . Recognizing and Addressing Limited PHarmaceutical literacy: Development of the RALPH interview guide. Res Social Adm Pharm. 2018; 14(9):805-811. DOI: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2018.04.031. View

Kripalani S, Henderson L, Chiu E, Robertson R, Kolm P, Jacobson T . Predictors of medication self-management skill in a low-literacy population. J Gen Intern Med. 2006; 21(8):852-6. PMC: 1831567. DOI: 10.1111/j.1525-1497.2006.00536.x. View

Zijlmans E, Tijmstra J, van der Ark L, Sijtsma K . Item-Score Reliability as a Selection Tool in Test Construction. Front Psychol. 2019; 9:2298. PMC: 6336834. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02298. View

Akbayram H . Medical Faculty Students' Views on Euthanasia: Does It Change With Medical Education?. Alpha Psychiatry. 2022; 22(2):113-117. PMC: 9590629. DOI: 10.5455/apd.126615. View

Puig Soler R, Perramon Colet M, Yahni C, Garcia Puig A . [Establishment of knowledge, attitudes and opinions of general population about rational use of medicines]. Aten Primaria. 2015; 47(7):446-55. PMC: 6983696. DOI: 10.1016/j.aprim.2014.11.001. View

White M . Sample size in quantitative instrument validation studies: A systematic review of articles published in Scopus, 2021. Heliyon. 2022; 8(12):e12223. PMC: 9768294. DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e12223. View

Polit D, Tatano Beck C, Owen S . Is the CVI an acceptable indicator of content validity? Appraisal and recommendations. Res Nurs Health. 2007; 30(4):459-67. DOI: 10.1002/nur.20199. View

10.

Yeh Y, Lin H, Chang E, Huang Y, Chen Y, Wang C . Development and validation of a Chinese medication literacy measure. Health Expect. 2017; 20(6):1296-1301. PMC: 5689244. DOI: 10.1111/hex.12569. View

11.

Ishikawa H, Takeuchi T, Yano E . Measuring functional, communicative, and critical health literacy among diabetic patients. Diabetes Care. 2008; 31(5):874-9. DOI: 10.2337/dc07-1932. View

12.

Li Y, Xu J, Wang F, Wang B, Liu L, Hou W . Overprescribing in China, driven by financial incentives, results in very high use of antibiotics, injections, and corticosteroids. Health Aff (Millwood). 2012; 31(5):1075-82. DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2010.0965. View

13.

Suka M, Odajima T, Kasai M, Igarashi A, Ishikawa H, Kusama M . The 14-item health literacy scale for Japanese adults (HLS-14). Environ Health Prev Med. 2013; 18(5):407-15. PMC: 3773092. DOI: 10.1007/s12199-013-0340-z. View

14.

Kartal M, Emul M . Skeletal Editing: A Novel Method for "Psychiatric Drug Flipping" to Produce New, Precise Ones with Fewer Side Effects. Alpha Psychiatry. 2024; 25(1):111-112. PMC: 11114146. DOI: 10.5152/alphapsychiatry.2024.231488. View

15.

Huang H, Wang C, Chen P, Lee Y . Bibliometric Analysis of Medication Errors and Adverse Drug Events Studies. J Patient Saf. 2015; 15(2):128-134. DOI: 10.1097/PTS.0000000000000205. View

16.

Akvardar Y, Demiral Y, Ergor G, Ergor A . Substance use among medical students and physicians in a medical school in Turkey. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2004; 39(6):502-6. DOI: 10.1007/s00127-004-0765-1. View

17.

Roberts P, Priest H . Reliability and validity in research. Nurs Stand. 2006; 20(44):41-5. DOI: 10.7748/ns2006.07.20.44.41.c6560. View

18.

Wang J, Wang P, Wang X, Zheng Y, Xiao Y . Use and prescription of antibiotics in primary health care settings in China. JAMA Intern Med. 2014; 174(12):1914-20. DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.5214. View

19.

Li X, Duan T, Lai Y, Wang X, Yang L, Su X . Status of medication literacy and its related factors among undergraduate students in Shanxi Province, China: A cross-sectional study. J Clin Pharm Ther. 2022; 47(8):1201-1211. DOI: 10.1111/jcpt.13655. View

20.

Sauceda J, Loya A, Sias J, Taylor T, Wiebe J, Rivera J . Medication literacy in Spanish and English: psychometric evaluation of a new assessment tool. J Am Pharm Assoc (2003). 2012; 52(6):e231-40. DOI: 10.1331/JAPhA.2012.11264. View