Open AccessA Shortened Instrument for Literacy Screening
Author(s) -
Bass Pat F.,
Wilson John F.,
Griffith Charles H.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of general internal medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.746
H-Index - 180
eISSN - 1525-1497
pISSN - 0884-8734
DOI - 10.1111/j.1525-1497.2003.10651.x
Subject(s) - realm , medicine , cronbach's alpha , health literacy , literacy , reliability (semiconductor) , test (biology) , reading (process) , psychometrics , clinical psychology , health care , psychology , pedagogy , power (physics) , physics , paleontology , quantum mechanics , political science , law , economics , biology , economic growth
The Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM‐R), a new 8‐item instrument designed to rapidly screen patients for potential health literacy problems, was administered to 157 patients. The REALM‐R was correlated with Wide Range Achievement Test‐Revised (WRAT‐R) (.64) and demonstrated a Cronbach's α of 0.91. The REALM‐R identified 26 of 30 persons scoring more than 1 standard deviation below the mean on the WRAT‐R, corresponding to a sixth grade reading level. The REALM‐R identified a substantial number of people who scored poorly on the WRAT‐R, and depending on further studies of validity and reliability, may offer a practical approach to identify patients at risk for health literacy problems in a clinical setting.