Abstract
BackgroundIncreased access to the internet has facilitated widespread availability of health information. Thus, electronic health (eHealth) literacy—the ability to seek, find, understand, and appraise health information from electronic resources and apply that knowledge in making a health-related decision—is a crucial skill. Despite the increasing use of the internet as a source of health information in developing countries, only a few studies have examined the eHealth literacy of young adults, who frequently use the internet to access health information in these developing countries.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to assess the patterns of internet use and eHealth literacy levels among university students pursuing a non–health-related degree in Pakistan. We also examined the association of the eHealth literacy levels of these young adults with their physical activity levels and dietary supplement intake.MethodsStudents from 2 leading engineering universities in Pakistan were invited to participate in a cross-sectional anonymous web-based survey in order to collect data on their internet use, eHealth literacy, and dietary supplement intake. Of the 900 eligible university students who were invited to participate, 505 (56.1%) students who completed the questionnaire were included in the analysis. The findings were converted to median values and frequency analyses were performed. The associations between the variables were determined using the chi-square test; P≤.05 was considered significant.ResultsIn this study, the median eHealth literacy scale (eHEALS) score was 29, which did not vary across gender. The most common type of health-related information that was searched by the participants was that related to maintaining a healthy lifestyle (305/505, 60.4%). Participants with high eHEALS scores were those who used the internet frequently for finding people with similar health issues (P<.001). The use of specific social media platforms was not associated with the perceived eHealth literacy levels. Neither the frequency of physical activity nor the dietary supplement use was associated with the eHealth literacy of the participants.ConclusionsUniversity students in non–health-related disciplines in Pakistan expressed high confidence in their skills to find health-related information on the internet, as indicated by the aggregate eHEALS scores. However, the findings of our study show that the perceived eHealth literacy was not associated with health behaviors such as physical activity and dietary supplement intake. Further research is necessary to investigate the extent to which eHealth literacy can be considered as a panacea for solving public health challenges in developing countries.
Highlights
The role of internet and smartphone ubiquity in health care improvement, in a resource-constrained developing world, has gained global interest in the past decade [1]
In digital health literacy, it is important that consumer-focused electronic resources are designed such that they are aligned with the literacy levels of the intended audience. eHealth literacy is identified as an important skill set for eHealth users, and it refers to the ability of an individual to seek, find, understand, and appraise health information from electronic resources and apply such knowledge to addressing or solving a health problem [6]
We found that 79.6% (402/505) of the participants were identified as frequent users of the internet; 11.1% (56/505) of the participants reported using the internet for searching health-related information almost every day, while 46.1% (233/505) used it once a week or more
Summary
The role of internet and smartphone ubiquity in health care improvement, in a resource-constrained developing world, has gained global interest in the past decade [1]. Under the umbrella terms of electronic health (eHealth) and mHealth, researchers have investigated possible ways in which the proliferation of smartphone devices and internet platforms can be used to improve health education and health outcomes in the developing world [2]. In developed countries such as the United States and Japan, more than 70% of the population has reported the use of internet as the primary source of information, especially for self-care management; in developing countries, the use of internet for accessing health information has been rapidly increasing [3,4]. Further research is necessary to investigate the extent to which eHealth literacy can be considered as a panacea for solving public health challenges in developing countries
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