A vaccine literacy scale for childhood vaccines: Turkish validity and reliability vaccine literacy scale

Objective This methodological study aimed to establish the Turkish validity and reliability of the Vaccine Literacy Scale (VLS) for childhood vaccines. Materials and methods The sample consisted of 285 Turkish parents with children 0–4 years of age. Data were collected using a sociodemographic characteristics questionnaire, the VLS, and the Health Literacy Scale (HLS-14). A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to analyze the validity of the psychometric properties. Item total score correlation, Cronbach’s coefficient (α), and parallel form reliability tests were used to analyze the reliability. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, IBM, v. 25) and Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS, v. 21.0) at a significance level of 0.05. Results According to the CFA, the model fit indices were χ2 = 121.218, χ2/df = 1.987, RMSA = 0.059, CFI =.0.974, GFI = 0.943, and AGFI = 0.914. The item-total score correlation values ranged from 0.406 to 0.682. The “functional health literacy,” “communicative health literacy,” and “critical health literacy” subscales had Cronbach’s alpha values of 0.87, 0.88, and 0.88, respectively. There was a negative correlation between the VLS and HLS-14 (r = –0.618–0.569) ( p < 0.000). Conclusion The analyses and evaluations show that the Vaccine Literacy Scale is valid and reliable for the Turkish population. It is a valid and reliable instrument that can be used to determine Turkish parents’ health literacy regarding childhood vaccines.