EHealth literacy of medical students in University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Hue University, Vietnam

Abstract

Background: In the digital era, eHealth is an important prerequisite for promoting healthy behavior. Medical students as well as physicians need to have appropriate skills to effectively use the sources of health information for their learning and decision- making. However, some evidences showed that eHealth literacy of medical students were still limited. The study is to measure eHealth literacy of medical students in the University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Hue University and to examine factors influencing their skills. Method: This is a cross-sectional study. Data were collected through the self-administered structured questionnaire of 410 medical students who were randomly selected among medical doctor and preventive medicine students in the fifth year. The ehealth literacy scale was developed on the basis of eHEALS to measure skills for seeking and utilizing sources of eHealth information. Multiple linear regression model was used to identify factors influencing their eHealth literacy. Results: Approximately 82% of the participants realized that the importance and usefulness of sources of eHealth information making health-related decisions. The general mean score for eHealth literacy is 27.03 (SD = 3.54). 46.1% of students achieve good level of eHealth literacy. Factors influencing ehealth literacy are genders (p=0.004), computing skills (p=0.029), purpose of internet access (p=0.019), purpose of seeking and using medical information (p=0.001), frequency of searching medical information (p=0.044), type of computer used (p=0.048) and individual experience in seeking and utilizing eHealth information (p=0.007). Conclusion: eHealth literacy of medical students in the study setting is still limited. In order to improve these skills of students, the university should pay attention to solutions including workshops to share experiences, short training courses to introduce eHealth literacy and enhancing resources to make eHealth information available.