LibGuides: Health Literacy: Assessment

Assessing Patient Literacy

Health Literacy Measurement Tools
AHRQ-funded researchers have developed two tools to measure an aspect of health literacy—individuals' reading comprehension in a medical context. These tools can be used for research, clinical, or program planning purposes: Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine—Short Form (REALM-SF) and the Short Assessment of Health Literacy for Spanish Adults (SAHLSA-50). Both include instructions for administration.
Health Literacy Tool Shed
The Health Literacy Tool Shed is an online database of measures of individual’s health literacy. The site contains information about measures, including their psychometric properties, based on a review of the peer-reviewed literature
The Newest Vital Sign: A New Health Literacy Assessment Tool for Health Care Providers
A bilingual (English and Spanish) screening tool that identifies patients at risk for low health literacy. The tool can be administered in a clinical setting in three minutes. Test results provide information about the patient that allow providers to appropriately adapt their communication practices in an effort to achieve better health outcomes.
REALM-SF Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine, Short Form
The REALM-SF is a 7-item word recognition test to provide clinicians with a valid quick assessment of patient health literacy. The REALM-SF has been validated and field tested in diverse research setting, and has excellent agreement with the 66-item REALM instrument in terms of grade-level assignments.

Assessing Readability

The Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT) and User’s Guide
An Instrument To Assess the Understandability and Actionability of Print and Audiovisual Patient Education Materials
Readability Score
This free tool measures reading ease and grade levels on writing samples. Offers a variety of formulas, including the SMOG Index and Flesch-Kincaid.

Adapted from University of Maryland Health Sciences and Human Services Library Health Literacy Resource Guide. Used with permission.