Development and validation of an instrument for the evaluation of health literacy regarding periodontal condition among people with diabetes

The objective was to describe the process of developing and validating an instrument to assess the quality of Health Literacy regarding Periodontal Condition among people with Diabetes (LPCD).It is a methodological study conducted in a sample for construct validation of 129 people with diabetes (16 people per item) who answered eight questions, through an interview.The content validity had the participation of 10 judges and the reliability was estimated by the Kappa test. Structural validity, on the other hand, was estimated via Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha (CA) and Composite Reliability (CR). Average Variance Extracted (AVE) estimated convergent validity. Interpretability was measured by using the binary version of the LPCD considering the upper limit of the 95% confidence interval as the cutoff point. A three-dimensional model was generated which presented adjustment indexes considered adequate. In the assessment of internal consistency, it was found CA=0.979/0.986/0.949, considering the dimensions of access, understanding/evaluation and application, respectively. It was also observed the CR=0.978/0.981/0.947 as adequate values for access, understanding/evaluation and application, respectively. As for convergent validity, we identified AVE=0.977/0.960/0.948. In the dimensions of access, understanding/evaluation and application of the three-dimensional model, it was observed in a respective way 46.5%/45.0%/45.0% of inadequacy. LPCD presented structural validity, reliability and interpretability in the observed samples. The adjustment indexes were considered adequate, being able to choose its three-dimensional model.