Abstract
Digital health literacy (DHL) is the ability to search, understand and evaluate information from digital media and apply that knowledge to solve health problems. However, currently many citizens have not developed these skills, and this compromises not only the self-management of their health, but the possibility that health services are socially sustainable. The objective of this article was to present the objectives, activities and results of the IC-Health project whose objective was to develop a series of massive open online courses (MOOCs) to improve the DHL skills of European citizens. An exploratory report on DHL’s current evidence was developed. Furthermore, a survey, focus groups and group interviews were conducted to determine DHL levels and the needs of population cohorts (children; adolescents; pregnant and lactating women; the elderly; and people affected by type 1 and type 2 diabetes). A participation strategy with end users was designed through a community of practice for the creation of MOOCs with the seven European countries that participated in the consortium. Thirty-five MOOCs were developed in eight different languages and a descriptive and exploratory assessment of MOOCs was conducted with new participants. This first evaluation indicated that MOOCs can be an effective educational resource for DHL and a facilitator of shared decision-making processes. The process of co-creation of MOOCs, the components, the challenges and the opportunities identified in this European project could be useful for other developers of MOOCs who want to co-create interventions with beneficiaries in similar settings. Further longer-term actions are still needed to improve citizens’ DHL.
Highlights
The use of health content available on the Internet requires citizens to develop specific skills
The literature review identified the key aspects of interventions aimed at improving Digital health literacy (DHL) levels: 3.1.1
Interventions to improve DHL should consider including extra content aimed at improving digital literacy (DL) where necessary [29]
Summary
The use of health content available on the Internet requires citizens to develop specific skills. The concept of digital health literacy (DHL) [3] emerges from a convergence of DL and HL as the ability of individuals to search for, find, understand and evaluate health information obtained from electronic sources and to apply the knowledge acquired to address or solve a health problem [4] The development of these competences is crucial, because the Internet has democratized access to health information, it is essential to educate and empower individuals to understand and use this information in an effective way, so that the Internet can be a support resource in health issues and not a source of inequalities in access to information. Some open education tools, such as massive online open courses (MOOCs) can be a useful tool in this regard [5]
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