Table 1 Reliability and construct validity of the instrument on health literacy regarding infectious respiratory diseases

Prior knowledge

12

0-12

Is tuberculosis a kind of infectious respiratory disease?

0.662

Health behavior

23

0-23

How should you do when coughing or sneezing?

0.688

Health status

13

0-13

How many times did you go to see a doctor due to catching a cold in the last six months?

0.623

Health literacy

30

0-30

0.863

Print-prose

5

0-5

Stimuli: A poster describes flu-preventive behaviors.

0.568

Question: Which behavior is not helpful for flu prevention?

Print-document

8

0-8

Stimuli: A map describes the number of local cases of Influenza A (H1N1), as well as the national total, for different provinces all over China at 11th June 2009.

0.664

Question: How many local infected cases of Influenza A (H1N1) appear in Beijing?

Print-quantitative

6

0-6

Stimuli: A table describes the expense account submitting system of the New Rural Cooperative Medical System in China.

0.531

Question: A man was in his county’s hospital for his asthma. Besides the self-paid part, the total expense is 2200 Yuan. How much money can he apply for reimbursement from NCMS office for?

Oral

6

0-6

Stimuli: The video describes early symptoms of tuberculosis and some policies concerning the disease.

0.624

Question: Where can you get free diagnosis and treatment for TB according to public policy?

Internet

5

0-5

Can you search for some information about “measles vaccine immunization” using the internet?

0.964