Online health information seeking and health literacy among non-medical college students: gender differences

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to investigate online health information seeking and health literacy among non-medical college students in Egypt and the differences between the two genders. A cross-sectional descriptive design was used to collect data from 600 students through a self-administered questionnaire. Most of the students searched for health information on the internet (82.3%). 90.3% of them used their mobile phones and 97.8% sought data via Google. Skin and hair problems was the most searched for topic (83.3%), followed by reproductive health (79.7%). Students perceived that rapid and easy access to information were the main advantages of health information seeking online (98.5% and 95.5%, respectively), while the lack of reliability and scarcity of information in the Arabic language were the main disadvantages (78.2% and 60.5%, respectively). Only 31.2% of the sample achieved an adequate literacy level. Females in our sample had a higher frequency of online health information seeking and a higher level of health literacy. They also had a higher percentage of searching for health data on YouTube and seeking nutrition information. On the other hand, males used online health applications more frequently and were more interested in physical fitness and smoking. Females perceived the high cost as the main disadvantage of online health information seeking, while males were more concerned about the reliability of information. Health literacy was positively related to female gender and frequency of online health information seeking. Using the internet to deliver health information according to each gender’s preferences and concerns can encourage students to search for health information online and, therefore, raise their health literacy level.