Development of the health literacy assessment instrument for chronic pain patients: A Delphi study

Abstract

Aim: To develop health literacy assessment instrument for patients with chronic pain.

Design: Qualitative methods based on Delphi technique, assessed against the CREDES checklist.

Methods: A 2-round Delphi method was adopted in this study. The panel consisted of 19 experts.

Results: The health literacy assessment instrument for chronic pain patients was constructed, which contained 3 dimensions (functional health literacy, interactive health literacy and critical health literacy) and 41 items. The positive coefficients of two rounds Delphi were 100.00% and 89.5%, respectively. The authority coefficient of experts was 0.848 and 0.858, respectively. The coordination coefficients of dimension and items were 0.222 and 0.364, respectively.

Conclusions: The health literacy assessment instrument dimensions and items for patients with chronic pain based on a Delphi method are valid. This instrument is suitable for investigating the health literacy level of patients with chronic pain.

Keywords: chronic pain; delphi technique; evaluation; health literacy; instruments.