Translation and Cross Cultural Adaptation of Health Literacy Instrument For Adults in Hindi.

Abstract

Physiotherapists play a significant role in health promotion and wellness. Health literacy can help people prevent health problems, protect health and better manage diseases when they arise.There are lack of tool available to measure health literacy in Indian language and according to Indian culture. Aim of the study was to translate and cross culturally adapt Health literacy instrument for adults (HELIA) and determine the reliability and validity.Method: Methodological study was done on adults aged 18-65 years where permission to translate the scale was taken from the author. The health literacy instrument for adults was translated into Hindi using forward-backward translation method given by WHO. Forward translation of the scale was done by a Hindi professor such as to preserve meaning of the questions in original questionnaire. There was expert panel of five experts (2 physiotherapists, 2 doctors, 1 engineer). Following their suggestions, validated Hindi version 1 was made. Backward translation was done by an independent translator. Version 1 of Hindi version was pilot tested with 10 adults whose mean age was(42.3 ± 9.75) years. Suggestions given by them were done and final version 2 was given to 20 participants for reliability. One therapist performed scale twice on the same participants for intra-rater reliability and two therapists performed it on same participants for inter-rater reliability, both with two days of gap. Correlation and content validity was found. Data was analysed using SPSS 20.Results: There is strong positive correlation between English and Hindi version of HELIA with intraclass correlation (ICC=0.89) and interclass correlation (ICC=0.84). Scale content validity index (SCVI) is 0.91 .Conclusion: Hindi version of HELIA is reliable and valid for assessing health literacy in adults. That can be used for assessing health literacy in Hindi speaking community dwelling Indian adults. Clinical management and research may benefit from the availability of a self-administered scale in native language. [Jain A Natl J Integr Res Med, 2024; 15(1): 04-07, Published on Dated: 26/01/2025]