Development and reliability and validity testing of a medication literacy scale for medical college students

Abstract Background Irrational drug use has become a global problem threatening human health. As future health professionals, medical college students’ medication literacy (ML) is critical. Their mastery of medication-related knowledge will directly affect public medication safety in the future. Met...

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Main Authors: Zeng Leixiao, Sun Xiaonan, Pan Lutong, Gu Wenjing, Xiao Chang, Tang Jingqi, Dai Wenting, Kang Xiuqin, Wu Yibo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2024-10-01
Series:BMC Medical Education
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-06222-3
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author Zeng Leixiao
Sun Xiaonan
Pan Lutong
Gu Wenjing
Xiao Chang
Tang Jingqi
Dai Wenting
Kang Xiuqin
Wu Yibo
author_facet Zeng Leixiao
Sun Xiaonan
Pan Lutong
Gu Wenjing
Xiao Chang
Tang Jingqi
Dai Wenting
Kang Xiuqin
Wu Yibo
author_sort Zeng Leixiao
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Background Irrational drug use has become a global problem threatening human health. As future health professionals, medical college students’ medication literacy (ML) is critical. Their mastery of medication-related knowledge will directly affect public medication safety in the future. Methods The initial scale was developed through a literature review and was modified through expert consultation and student interviews to form the initial scale with 14 items. In 2020, a questionnaire survey was conducted among students in a medical college for item analysis, reliability test, validity test and other analyses. Results The total Cronbach’s α coefficient was 0.826 and split-half reliability was 0.852. The Cronbach’s α coefficients for functional medication literacy, communicative medication literacy, and critical medication literacy were 0.901, 0.858, and 0.851, respectively. The item-level content validity index (I-CVI) ranged from 0.833 to 1.000 (≥ 0.78). Factor analysis of 14 items showed that KMO = 0. 852(> 0.7) and Bartlett’s spherical test p < 0.001, indicating that the data are very suitable for factor analysis. Three principal axis factors were extracted by principal component analysis, and the total variance interpretation rate was 69.031% (> 40%). The confirmatory factor analysis identified a three-factor model and showed goodness of fit indices for the scale: The χ²/df = 2.623, The Goodness of Fit Index (GFI) = 0.905, The Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.950, Normed Fit Index (NFI) = 0.922, Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) = 0.938, and The Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) = 0.078. Conclusion A new scale for evaluating the medication literacy of Chinese medical college students was preliminarily developed, demonstrating good reliability and validity. Itcan be used as a preliminary measurement tool for assessing medical students’ medication literacy. However, due to the limitations of this study, the practical application of the scale needs to be further examined in a larger sample and should be refined in future studies.
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spelling doaj-art-7d91e9914053455d91bb059e7a460f2c2025-08-20T02:18:33ZengBMCBMC Medical Education1472-69202024-10-0124111310.1186/s12909-024-06222-3Development and reliability and validity testing of a medication literacy scale for medical college studentsZeng Leixiao0Sun Xiaonan1Pan Lutong2Gu Wenjing3Xiao Chang4Tang Jingqi5Dai Wenting6Kang Xiuqin7Wu Yibo8School of Journalism and Communication, Renmin University of ChinaCollege of Public Health, Harbin Medical UniversitySchool of public health, Shandong UniversitySchool of Education, Soochow UniversitySchool of Education, Soochow UniversitySchool of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal UniversitySchool of Foreign Languages and Literature, Shandong UniversityDongying People’s Hospital (Dongying Hospital of Shandong Provincial Hospital Group)School of Public Health, Peking UniversityAbstract Background Irrational drug use has become a global problem threatening human health. As future health professionals, medical college students’ medication literacy (ML) is critical. Their mastery of medication-related knowledge will directly affect public medication safety in the future. Methods The initial scale was developed through a literature review and was modified through expert consultation and student interviews to form the initial scale with 14 items. In 2020, a questionnaire survey was conducted among students in a medical college for item analysis, reliability test, validity test and other analyses. Results The total Cronbach’s α coefficient was 0.826 and split-half reliability was 0.852. The Cronbach’s α coefficients for functional medication literacy, communicative medication literacy, and critical medication literacy were 0.901, 0.858, and 0.851, respectively. The item-level content validity index (I-CVI) ranged from 0.833 to 1.000 (≥ 0.78). Factor analysis of 14 items showed that KMO = 0. 852(> 0.7) and Bartlett’s spherical test p < 0.001, indicating that the data are very suitable for factor analysis. Three principal axis factors were extracted by principal component analysis, and the total variance interpretation rate was 69.031% (> 40%). The confirmatory factor analysis identified a three-factor model and showed goodness of fit indices for the scale: The χ²/df = 2.623, The Goodness of Fit Index (GFI) = 0.905, The Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.950, Normed Fit Index (NFI) = 0.922, Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) = 0.938, and The Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) = 0.078. Conclusion A new scale for evaluating the medication literacy of Chinese medical college students was preliminarily developed, demonstrating good reliability and validity. Itcan be used as a preliminary measurement tool for assessing medical students’ medication literacy. However, due to the limitations of this study, the practical application of the scale needs to be further examined in a larger sample and should be refined in future studies.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-06222-3Medication literacyScaleReliabilityValidityMedical education
spellingShingle Zeng Leixiao
Sun Xiaonan
Pan Lutong
Gu Wenjing
Xiao Chang
Tang Jingqi
Dai Wenting
Kang Xiuqin
Wu Yibo
Development and reliability and validity testing of a medication literacy scale for medical college students
BMC Medical Education
Medication literacy
Scale
Reliability
Validity
Medical education
title Development and reliability and validity testing of a medication literacy scale for medical college students
title_full Development and reliability and validity testing of a medication literacy scale for medical college students
title_fullStr Development and reliability and validity testing of a medication literacy scale for medical college students
title_full_unstemmed Development and reliability and validity testing of a medication literacy scale for medical college students
title_short Development and reliability and validity testing of a medication literacy scale for medical college students
title_sort development and reliability and validity testing of a medication literacy scale for medical college students
topic Medication literacy
Scale
Reliability
Validity
Medical education
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-06222-3
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