Highlights
•We test an oral self-rated measure – health competence in urban and rural Cameroon.
•Domains include health information, knowledge of disease and how to maintain health.
•Scores may be affected by age, level of education and interviewer.
•We encourage testing it in other settings.
Abstract
Objectives
To develop and test a tool for measuring health competence.
Methods
In order to measure this attribute, we used a sequential exploratory mixed methods design in rural and urban communities in Cameroon. In the qualitative phase, 67 clients constituted 10 focus groups to elicit themes related to health competence. In the quantitative phase, self-rated items were tested on 300 participants and on a random selection of 25 participants 2 weeks later.
Results
The internal consistency for the subscales derived varied from 0.61-0.81. Older (F[45, 339.1] = 1.2; p = 0.031) and more educated (F[3, 22.6] = 2.1; p = 0.004) people were more likely to score higher on the scale. Interviewers also contributed to the variance (F[5, 37.6] = 3.6; p