Italian validation of the medical data interpretation test (Mdit) for health literacy

Improving health literacy is a public health goal. Our aim was to validate the Italian version of the Medical Data Interpretation Test (MDIT-I) and create a MDIT-I short version. This cross-sectional study assessed gender, age, education, biomedical employment, MDIT-I and its short version. Internal consistency was evaluated through Cronbach’s α; construct validity by comparing MDIT-I score across education levels and employment fields. There were 141 participants, 50.4% were female and the median age was 37 (IQR 31). MDIT-I internal consistency was good (α=0.747) and construct validity was confirmed. The short version had α=0.66 and construct validity was confirmed like the long version. The short version score was tested in correlation: Spearman’s ρ=0.932 (p-value<0.001). The scores were dichotomized and Cohen’s κ was estimated to be 0.786. Long and short MDIT-I showed good internal consistency and construct validity and could be used to increase knowledge about health literacy in the Italian population.