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Abstract: Introduction: Health literacy is an important predictor of health behavior and self-rated health, playing a crucial role in shaping public health outcomes. Valid and reliable health literacy assessments are essential for effectively tailoring health interventions, particularly in different cultural contexts. Several questionnaires have been developed to measure health literacy, including the widely used 47-item Health Literacy Questionnaire and its shorter versions. However, the validity of these shorter and more time efficient HLS-EU versions, such as the 16-item HLS-EU-Q16, has been less extensively researched in different age subgroups. Given Slovenia’s aging population and the differences in health literacy between adults and older adults, it is important to assess whether the HLS-EU-Q16 performs reliably across these groups. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the validity and reliability of the 16-item health literacy questionnaire (HLS-EU-Q16) in Slovenia across two age groups: adults and older adults. Methods: We analyzed representative Slovenian sample data from the Health Literacy of Adults study. The sample included 2,327 adults aged 23–64 years (53.7% women) and 876 older adults aged 65–99 years (55.7% women). Results: Construct validity revealed a modified three-factor structure of the HLS-EU-Q16 among adults, reflecting a broader conceptualization of health literacy that encompasses overlapping domains of health promotion, disease prevention, and health care. In contrast, a two-factor structure emerged among older adults, indicating a more consolidated approach where these domains are perceived as part of an integrated health management strategy. This suggests that adults may conceptualize health literacy across multiple, yet interconnected dimensions, while older adults approach it more holistically. Convergent validity, reliability, concurrent-predictive, concurrent, and discriminant validity results were satisfactory for both age groups. Predictive validity, however, provided somewhat inadequate results, as the tool poorly predicted certain health behaviors, such as smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity, in both age groups. Conclusion: Overall, the HLS-EU-Q16 demonstrated adequate validity and reliability among both adults and older adults, indicating that it is an appropriate instrument for assessing health literacy in Slovenia.
Keywords: HLS-EU-Q16, Slovenia, health literacy, adults, validity
Published in DKUM: 14.03.2025; Views: 0; Downloads: 1
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Abstract: Education at every time of our history was an important part of peoples’ lives. Society developed and so developed education, stating new goals and requiring more time, and becoming more complicated. Today we are living in the era of information. Information nowadays has the greatest value. The modern world’s market is based on information and operations around it. Education has also adjusted to modern trends and now higher education became in demand. The more information you obtain and can operate with the more successful you are today. The GDP of developed countries is strongly connected to the success of higher education institutes. That is why many countries nowadays invest in higher education. One of these countries is Slovenia that made higher education free. Investing so many resources Slovenia is interested in getting high-quality human resources of university graduates. That is why it is very important to consider all factors that affect study success to make them all work. One of the main factors affecting it is study engagement. The main goal of this Diploma work is to research the level of study engagement of university students in Slovenia and analyze the reasons for it. We use the student version of the “UWES” questionnaire to find the level of study engagement of Slovene students and our part of the questionnaire to detect reasons and understand better the situation with study engagement. Three hypotheses were stated to help to perform accurate research. Results of the research showed, that there is no correlation between an average grade in high school and level of study engagement. It also showed an absence of correlation between the level of parents’ education and student’s level of study engagement. According to research results, students that are working on the side of their studies are less engaged in classes, than their colleagues that do not work.
Keywords: study engagement, higher education, education, university, Slovenia
Published in DKUM: 10.02.2025; Views: 0; Downloads: 8
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Abstract: Introduction: Although the distinction between the Community-Associated-Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) and Hospital-Associated-Methicillin-Resistant S. aureus (HA-MRSA) has blurred in recent years, the CA-MRSA is an important group because of its potential to cause fulminant and severe infections. Its importance has further increased with the emergence of Livestock-Associated-Methicillin-Resistant S. aureus (LA-MRSA). Methods: In the present study we analysed clonal distributions and virulence factors in presumptive CA-MRSA isolated from January 2014 to December 2015 and compared the results with our previous study from 2010. Phenotypic definition for presumptive CA-MRSA was based on resistance to cefoxitin and oxacillin and susceptibility to at least two of the following four antibiotics: ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, clindamycin and gentamicin. Results:In 2014 and 2015 altogether 304 MRSA isolates fulfilled our screening phenotypic definition, 45 isolates were cultivated from clinical specimens and 259 from screening specimens. Sequence types ST398, LA-MRSA and mecC MRSA increased significantly in 2015 compared to 2010 (p-value <0.05) and were spread over Slovenia. Conclusion:The clonal distribution of presumptive CA-MRSA has changed within the study period in Slovenia. In 2015 the most frequent clone among clinical and screening specimens was a pig-associated clone, ST398, but the number of confirmed ST398 infections remains low. While previously ST398 and mecC positive MRSA strains were geographically limited, they have spread throughout the country since 2010.
Keywords: Slovenia, CA-MRSA, LA-MRSA, mecC, spa types, clones
Published in DKUM: 20.01.2025; Views: 0; Downloads: 402
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Abstract: The aim of the article is to analyze public policies of social entrepreneurship in Slovenia and their developmental phases, the characteristics of social economy organizations, and to assess the framework conditions for social entrepreneurship by social enterprises. Since social entrepreneurship follows mainly social objectives, it needs the support of the ecosystem to develop properly. The EU allows the Member States to regulate social entrepreneurship itself, so Slovenia has formalized the social entrepreneurship domain through national-level legislation. In the article, a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods is applied, using primary data on social enterprises and a case study approach. The results of the analysis of social economy organizations in Slovenia indicate that the formal status of social enterprises covers a wide range of organizations and their share is low in the national context. The analysis of the case study organizations indicates that the legislation is considered as the main factor hindering the development of social entrepreneurship. Moreover, their assessment of public policies is rather judgmental and disapproving. In general, the results reveal that although the area of social entrepreneurship in Slovenia is developing, a vision and long-term strategy is still lacking and the implementation of supportive environment incentives is insufficient.
Keywords: social entrepreneurship, public policies, social economy, case studies, Slovenia
Published in DKUM: 14.01.2025; Views: 0; Downloads: 8
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Abstract: Background:To conduct a cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Core Outcome Measures Index (COMI) in the Slovenian language, for use in patients with low back pain. Methods:The English version of COMI was translated into Slovene following established guidelines. Three hundredfifty-three patients with chronic low back pain were recruited from the Orthopedic clinic department of a tertiary care teaching institution. Data quality, construct validity, responsiveness, and test-retest reliability of the COMI were assessed. Results: The questionnaire was generally well accepted with no missing values. The majority of items exhibited only mild ceiling effects (below 20.0%) and some what more prominent floor effects, which were similar to previousstudies (4.5-78.8%). Correlations with Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) were high (= 0.76 between overall COMI andODI scores), suggesting that the Slovene version of COMI had high construct validity. Additionally, the Slovene version of COMI successfully captured surgical patients' improvement in their low back problem after surgery(overall COMI score change: Z =9.34,p< .001, r =0.53) and showed acceptable test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.86). Conclusions:The Slovene version of COMI showed good psychometric properties, comparable to those of previously tested language versions. It represents a valuable instrument for the use in future domestic and multicenter clinical studies.
Keywords: low back pain, validation, core outcome measures index, cross-cultural adaptation, Slovenia
Published in DKUM: 27.12.2024; Views: 0; Downloads: 5
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