SynthesisPloS one2022
Measuring health literacy: A systematic review and bibliometric analysis of instruments from 1993 to 2021.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 58 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
58 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- What is the impact of health literacy on healthcare costs? A systematic review and evidence synthesis.BMJ open · 2025Pooled it
- A COSMIN Systematic Review of Sexual Health Literacy Self-Report Measures for Adolescents.Archives of sexual behavior · 2025Pooled it
- The low health literacy in Latin America and the Caribbean: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2024Pooled it
- Diagnostic accuracy of eHealth literacy measurement tools in older adults: a systematic review.BMC geriatrics · 2023Pooled it
- Study of the psychometric properties of the HLS-EU-12 questionnaire in rural Bangladesh.PloS one · 2025Trial
- Health Literacy in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Comprehensive Scoping Review of Research Developments.Journal of prevention (2022) · 2026Article
- Translation and Assessment of Structural Validity and Internal Consistency of the Polish Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ) in Health Professions Students.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Article
- Health literacy reductionism: when individual deficits become the default explanation.Health promotion international · 2026Article
- The Application of Metabolomics in Frailty: Trends, Challenges, and Future Directions.Metabolites · 2026Review
- Highly Cited Dental Implant Research: A Bibliometric Analysis of Publication Patterns and Research Themes.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Differential item functioning of PROMIS Sleep Disturbance-Short Form 8a across levels of health literacy in a community sample of adults.Psychological assessment · 2026Article
- Article
- Development and evaluation of a 15-item health literacy classification model using integrated psychometric approaches in China.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Draw-Care, a Co-Designed Multilingual Digital Intervention for Family Carers of People Living With Dementia From Ethnically Diverse Communities: User-Testing Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Cancer Prevention Literacy Questionnaire (CPL-Q): development and validation within the World Code Against Cancer Framework.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Prevalence of limited health literacy in blue-collar workers: a systematic review protocol.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Examining the Factor Structure of Objective Health Literacy and Numeracy Scales: Large-Scale Cross-Sectional Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2026Article
- Psychometric properties of a self-administered oral health literacy questionnaire for Brazilian adolescents.Revista brasileira de epidemiologia = Brazilian journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Psychometric Validation of the Chinese Version of the Diabetes Health Literacy Scale Among Adults with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Application of Factor Analysis and Item Response Theory.Diabetes, metabolic syndrome and obesity : targets and therapy · 2026Article
- Self-assessment scale of basic mental health action competencies: development and evaluation of the psychometric properties.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIt has been about 30 years since the first health literacy instrument was developed. This study aimed to review all existing instruments to summarize the current knowledge on the development of existing measurement instruments and their possible translation and validation in other languages different from the original languages.
methodsThe review was conducted using PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar on all published papers on health literacy instrument development and psychometric properties in English biomedical journals from 1993 to the end of 2021.
resultsThe findings were summarized and synthesized on several headings, including general instruments, condition specific health literacy instruments (disease & content), population- specific instruments, and electronic health. Overall, 4848 citations were retrieved. After removing duplicates (n = 2336) and non-related papers (n = 2175), 361 studies (162 papers introducing an instrument and 199 papers reporting translation and psychometric properties of an original instrument) were selected for the final review. The original instruments included 39 general health literacy instruments, 90 condition specific (disease or content) health literacy instruments, 22 population- specific instruments, and 11 electronic health literacy instruments. Almost all papers reported reliability and validity, and the findings indicated that most existing health literacy instruments benefit from some relatively good psychometric properties.
conclusionThis review highlighted that there were more than enough instruments for measuring health literacy. In addition, we found that a number of instruments did not report psychometric properties sufficiently. However, evidence suggest that well developed instruments and those reported adequate measures of validation could be helpful if appropriately selected based on objectives of a given study. Perhaps an authorized institution such as World Health Organization should take responsibility and provide a clear guideline for measuring health literacy as appropriate.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.