Assessing the level of digital health literacy among healthcare workers of teaching hospitals in the southeast of Iran

Abstract

IntroductionHaving health care workers with a desirable level of digital health literacy (DHL) has the potential to improve the level of patients’ DHL and promote their self-care management. The aim of this study was to measure and evaluate the level of DHL among healthcare workers in teaching hospitals. MethodsThis was a descriptive and analytical cross-sectional study conducted in 2021. We included all healthcare workers working in five teaching hospitals of Zahedan city, southeast of Iran. The sample size of staff nurse was calculated based on Cochran's formula for a finite population; other healthcare workers were included by census method. We used the translated version of a standard questionnaire specifically designed for measuring the level of DHL. The validity and reliability of questionnaire was re-evaluated. SPSS was used for analytical (t-test and ANOVA) and descriptive (mean, standard deviation, frequency and percentage) analyses of data. ResultsHealthcare workers gained in protecting privacy (89.7%), operational skill (83.9%), navigation skill (81.7%), and information searching (80.6%) of the total score, and were evaluated as very desirable in terms of these skills. Besides, they obtained in adding content (78.1%), determining data relevance (68.2%) and evaluating data reliability (64.8%) of the total score, which was indicative of a desirable level. In addition, there was a significant relationship between the level of DHL of healthcare workers and their level of education and job category (P < 0.05). ConclusionThe overall DHL level of healthcare workers was assessed as desirable; therefore, the studied healthcare workers had an appropriate ability to help patients with self-care. Nevertheless, proper policymaking and planning for educating healthcare workers on how to evaluate the quality of health information in digital media and improving their skills of identifying relevant information among the vast amount of available health information by choosing the right search strategy can help promote healthcare workers’ literacy to an optimal level.