Evidence Summary
Information Horizons Mapping is Related to Other Measures of Health
Literacy but Not Information Literacy
A Review of:
Zimmerman, M.S. (2020). Mapping literacies: Comparing information
horizons mapping to measures of information and health literacy. Journal of Documentation, 76(2), 531–551. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-05-2019-0090
Reviewed by:
Eugenia Opuda
Health & Human Services Librarian
Assistant Professor
Dimond Library
University of New Hampshire
Durham, New Hampshire, United States of America
Email: Eugenia.Opuda@unh.edu
Received: 31 May 2020 Accepted: 30 Sept. 2020
2020 Opuda. This
is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons‐Attribution‐Noncommercial‐Share Alike License 4.0
International (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/),
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly attributed, not used for commercial
purposes, and, if transformed, the resulting work is redistributed under the
same or similar license to this one.
DOI: 10.18438/eblip29787
Abstract
Objective – To evaluate information horizons mapping as a valid measure for
assessing information literacy and health literacy compared to three validated
information and health literacy measurements and level of educational
attainment.
Design – Quantitative data analysis using multiple regression and the Anker,
Reinhart, and Feeley model as the conceptual framework.
Setting – A
small university-centered community in Iowa City.
Subjects – 149
members of the university community.
Methods – The
author conducted a power analysis to determine a minimum sample size required
for maintaining study validity and selected the Anker Model of conceptual
framing for health information-seeking behavior. This is a three-phased model
that explores the information seeker’s predisposing characteristics, engagement
in health information seeking, and outcomes associated with information
seeking. Recruited participants completed three assessments—the Tool for
Real-time Assessment of Information Literacy Skills (TRAILS), the Health
Literacy Skills Instrument (HLSI), and the Brief Health Literacy Screen
(BHLS)—and drew information horizon maps illustrating what sources of
information they tend to seek for health-related questions. The author
calculated information horizon map results using a scoring system incorporating
the number and quality of information sources identified in the maps and
applied multiple linear regression analysis and Spearman’s rank correlation
coefficient to participants’ scores from all four assessments as well as their
level of educational attainment to determine strengths of relationships between
variables.
Main Results – In
the information horizons map results, participants identified an average of 6.9
information sources with a range of 3–13 and received an average score of 18.8
in information source quality with a range of 4–45. The author applied multiple
linear regression to predict the number of information source counts on the
information horizons map based on HLSI, TRAILS, and BHLS assessment scores and
level of educational attainment and found a significant relationship (p=0.044).
A significant relationship also existed between quality of source scores on the
map based on HLSI, TRAILS, and BHLS assessment scores and level of educational
attainment (p=0.033). Removing the educational attainment variable
produced an even stronger significant result. Spearman’s rank correlation
coefficient supported the findings of the multiple regression analysis and
revealed a strong relationship between source count and scores on the BHLS (r=0.87)
and HLSI (r=71) but a weak relationship between source counts and TRAILS
score and level of educational attainment. Source quality had a weak
relationship with BHLS scores (r=0.24), a moderate relationship with the
HLSI scores (r=0.50), and a weak relationship with TRAILS scores and
educational attainment.
Conclusions – The
data analysis suggests a significant relationship between information horizons
mapping and health literacy but not information literacy or level of
educational attainment. This data supports findings from the author’s previous
research examining the relationship between information horizon maps and
information literacy scores for refugee and immigrant women. It also suggests
that information horizons mapping may facilitate storytelling that reflects the
complexity of participants’ health literacy ability and may introduce the
potential to assess low-literacy level populations. More research is needed to
examine the quality and complexity produced in information horizons maps. This
methodology may be applied to investigate better techniques for assessing the
health literacy levels among populations that struggle with prose-based
assessments.
Commentary
This research builds upon the author’s previous work
using information horizons mapping to assess health and information literacy
among low-income refugee and immigrant women (Zimmerman, 2018) and examines the
efficacy of this tool, in comparison with other validated literacy tools, to
measure literacies among a general population with the long-term goal of
applying the tool to low-literacy-level populations. The information horizons
methodology has been taught to library science students as a tool to measure
information behavior among various populations (Hartel,
Oh, & Anh, 2018) and used by researchers to measure information literacy (Eckerdal, 2013), but this article is one of the first to
measure health literacy.
This
study was appraised using the EBL Critical Appraisal Checklist (Glynn, 2006).
The study methodology is appropriate to address the research questions, is
strengthened by a conceptual framework of linear information-seeking behavior,
and is detailed enough to facilitate study replication. Analysis of the results
was a strength of the study. The author
clearly articulates the process
of creating the information horizons map scoring system based on currently
existing examples in the literature; accounts for positive scoring of
information horizon mapping by taking only positive scores from the HLSI,
TRAILS, and BHLS assessments; and corroborates the results of multiple linear
regression analysis by utilizing Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient to
determine the strength of correlations between variables. The author’s sample
information horizon maps helped to visually articulate the methodology but
could have included the source counts and quality scores for each of the
example maps to convey information more effectively.
Though the author conducted an analysis to determine a
minimum sample size for study validity and exceeded the minimum population
sample, the demographic, which mostly consisted of white, college-educated
adults, lacks diversity and is not representative of a general population. The
author is clear about this limitation and describes the study population as
coming from an “unusually educated” university-centered community and with a
significant lack of racial diversity (p. 548).
While the findings of this study are inconclusive in
determining if they can apply to a broader population, the study serves as a
stepping stone toward thinking critically about the development and utilization
of heath literacy assessments, especially for low-literacy and underrepresented
populations who experience increased health disparities (National Academies of
Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2017) and who may struggle with
conventionally prose-based assessments. These study findings may help
librarians personalize research consultations with medical students or be used
for patient education training, identifying strengths and areas for growth in
health literacy and information-seeking behavior. The information horizons map
shows promising results to achieve this goal as well as the ability to detail
the complexities of health information-seeking behavior in a strength-based
rather than a deficit-focused approach.
References
Eckerdal, J.R. (2013).
Empowering interviews: Narrative interviews in the study of information
literacy in everyday life settings. Information
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Glynn,
L. (2006). A critical appraisal tool for library and information research. Library Hi Tech, 24(3), 387–399.
https://doi.org/10.1108/07378830610692154
Hartel, J., Oh, C.,
& Nguyen, A. T. (2018). Teaching information behavior with the information
horizon interview. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science,
59(3), 67–79. https://doi.org/10.3138/jelis.59.3.2018-0017.07
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health literacy of refugee and immigrant women in the USA. Information
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