Development and psychometric properties of a tool to assess Media Health Literacy (MeHLit)

BACKGROUND: Media play an important role in shaping and changing the attitudes, thoughts, and behaviors of their audiences regarding health issues. Therefore, there is a need to explore and identify media health literacy concepts and domains. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study to design and psychometry an instrument to assess Media Health Literacy (MeHLit) from June to Septemper 2021. Relevant literature was reviewed to identify an item pool, and an expert panel was convened to choose items that might be included in the scale. The validity of the questionnaire was assessed through face validity (qualitative and quantitative),content validity (qualitative and quantitative) and construct validity (exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis) in 213 adults. Internal consistency of the scale was assessed by Cronbach’s alpha. RESULTS: The content validity and reliability were demonstrated by CVR = 0.87 and CVI = 0.93, Cronbach’s α = 0.91. Exploratory factor analysis showed 5 factors including “Goal appraisal skill”; “Content appraisal skill” “Implicit message appraisal skill”; “Visual Comprehension skill”; “Audience appraisal skill”; which explained 60.25 of the variance. CONCLUSION: MeHLit is a valid and reliable questionnaire, with 21-item and 5 domains to assess media health literacy. To replicate the results obtained here, this measurement should be translated and maintained in other settings.