Abstract
BackgroundInterpreting health information and acquiring health knowledge have become more important with the accumulation of scientific medical knowledge and ideals of patient autonomy. Health literacy and its tremendous success as a concept can be considered an admission that not all is well in the distribution of health knowledge. The internet makes health information much more easily accessible than ever, but it introduces its own problems, of which health disinformation is a major one.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to determine whether objective and subjective health literacy are independent concepts and to test which of the two was associated more strongly with accurate judgments of the quality of a medical website and with behavioral intentions beneficial to health.MethodsA survey on depression and its treatments was conducted online (n=362). The Newest Vital Sign was employed to measure objective, performance-based health literacy, and the eHealth Literacy Scale was used to measure subjective, perception-based health literacy. Correlations, comparisons of means, linear and binary logistic regression, and mediation models were used to determine the associations.ResultsObjective and subjective health literacy were weakly associated with one another (r=0.06, P=.24). High objective health literacy levels were associated with an inclination to behave in ways that are beneficial to one’s own or others’ health (Exp[B]=2.068, P=.004) and an ability to recognize low-quality online sources of health information (β=–.4698, P=.005). The recognition also improved participants’ choice of treatment (β=–.3345, P<.001). Objective health literacy helped people to recognize misinformation on health websites and improved their judgment on their treatment for depression.ConclusionsSelf-reported, perception-based health literacy should be treated as a separate concept from objective, performance-based health literacy. Only objective health literacy appears to have the potential to prevent people from becoming victims of health disinformation.
Highlights
BackgroundPatients’ knowledge of health matters and their capacity to acquire such knowledge have recently become more important than ever [1]
Correlation analysis showed that respondents with higher levels of performance-based health literacy perceived a low-quality website as more negative and were inclined to choose beneficial behaviors for themselves, family, and friends
When respondents were grouped according to perception-based health literacy, no such difference appeared
Summary
BackgroundPatients’ knowledge of health matters and their capacity to acquire such knowledge have recently become more important than ever [1]. Well-meaning physicians based their decisions on their far superior medical knowledge, experience, physical examination, and understanding of what their patients conveyed about their symptoms [3]. Based on this information, physicians developed a diagnosis and prescribed medication . Interpreting health information and acquiring health knowledge have become more important with the accumulation of scientific medical knowledge and ideals of patient autonomy. Objective health literacy helped people to recognize misinformation on health websites and improved their judgment on their treatment for depression. Objective health literacy appears to have the potential to prevent people from becoming victims of health disinformation
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