University of Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland.
Swiss Paraplegic Research, Nottwil, Switzerland.
PLoS One. 2020 Jul 2;15(7):e0235474. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0235474. eCollection 2020.
The ability to critically appraise health information-often referred to as critical health literacy-is recognized as a crucial component of health literacy. Yet to date, it is not clear what specific abilities are needed to adequately accomplish this task, thereby hindering both its assessment and the development and evaluation of related interventions. By systematically building on past research, this study aimed to operationally define the concept of health information appraisal competence.
We systematically searched five scholarly databases to identify the conceptualizations and operational definitions of information appraisal in different disciplines. The resulting operationalization was subsequently validated through an online consultation exercise among 85 Swiss stakeholders.
Ninety-four publications were included in the review to the point of saturation. We extracted 646 skills, attitudes, and knowledge for health information appraisal. We then collated overlapping or duplicate statements, which produced a list of 43 unique statements belonging to six emergent themes or core competences: (1) basic competence, (2) predisposition, (3) identification competence, (4) critical evaluation competence, (5) selection competence, and (6) application competence. The consultation exercise enriched the operationalization of some of the core competences and confirmed the importance of all competences. Most skills, attitudes, and knowledge, however, were assigned low feasibility by the stakeholders.
This study was the first attempt to systematically operationalize health information appraisal competence. From a theoretical perspective, it sheds light on an understudied, health literacy domain, thus contributing to clarity around the concept. From a practical perspective, it provides a strong theoretical basis for the development of a tool to measure health information appraisal competence. This could be used routinely as a screening tool, as an outcome measure for public health interventions, or to identify citizens who are most at risk. Furthermore, it will provide support for the development of future interventions to build health information appraisal competence in the population.
批判性评估健康信息的能力——通常被称为批判性健康素养——被认为是健康素养的一个重要组成部分。然而，迄今为止，尚不清楚完成这项任务需要哪些具体能力，从而阻碍了对其的评估以及相关干预措施的制定和评估。本研究通过系统地借鉴以往的研究，旨在对健康信息评估能力这一概念进行操作定义。
我们系统地检索了五个学术数据库，以确定不同学科中信息评估的概念化和操作定义。随后，通过 85 名瑞士利益相关者的在线咨询，对得出的操作定义进行了验证。
共有 94 篇文献被纳入到了综述中，达到了饱和状态。我们提取了 646 项健康信息评估的技能、态度和知识。然后，我们整理了重叠或重复的陈述，得出了属于六个新兴主题或核心能力的 43 个独特陈述：（1）基本能力，（2）倾向，（3）识别能力，（4）批判性评估能力，（5）选择能力，（6）应用能力。咨询丰富了一些核心能力的操作化内容，并确认了所有能力的重要性。然而，大多数技能、态度和知识都被利益相关者认为可行性较低。
这是首次尝试系统地操作化健康信息评估能力。从理论角度来看，它阐明了一个研究不足的健康素养领域，从而有助于澄清该概念。从实践角度来看，它为开发衡量健康信息评估能力的工具提供了坚实的理论基础。该工具可以常规用作筛查工具，作为公共卫生干预措施的结果测量，或用于识别最容易受到影响的公民。此外，它将为发展未来干预措施提供支持，以在人群中建立健康信息评估能力。
