Evaluating health communication materials improves health literacy: Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the PEMAT instrument for Portugal

Abstract

Communication is an essential aspect in the field of healthcare and offers significant potential in promoting health literacy. Scientific literature shows that health education materials are often complex and not suitable for the literacy level of the target population. Healthcare professionals should have knowledge and skills in this domain and should utilize the best available practices, as they are often responsible for creating and disseminating these materials. The existence of tools that allow for the assessment of the suitability of health education materials for people's literacy levels is an asset to professional practice. The Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT) is designed for evaluating health education materials and innovates by its ability to assess comprehensibility and actionability. With the overall goal of facilitating an instrument for evaluating health education materials, this study had the specific objective of translating and cross-culturally adapting the PEMAT instrument for Portugal. The translation and back-translation methodology was used, and a convenience sample was pretested. The limited sample size and lack of diversity were the limitations of this work. The final version obtained was considered highly useful for professional practice and is an innovative tool in Portugal. It is expected that its dissemination will empower healthcare professionals to promote health literacy among patients, similar to what is happening in other contexts where the instrument is already in use.

Keywords: PEMAT; health communication; health literacy; health education.