Evaluation of E-health literacy in Paramedicine and Health Nutrition students of Lorestan University of Medical Sciences

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Associate Professor, Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran

2 Student Research Committee, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran

3 Assistant Professor, Biostatistics Department, School of Health, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran

4 , Student Research Committee, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran

Abstract

Background and Objective: There is a gap between access to eHealth resources and the skills of consumers to use them, which can help to provide quality eHealth by identifying these skills. The aim of this study was to determine the electronic health literacy score of Lorestan University of Medical Sciences students in 2018.
Materials and Methods: This descriptive-analysis study was conducted on students of the faculties of Paramedicine, Health and Nutrition at Lorestan University of Medical Sciences in the first semester of 2018-2019. The sampling method was stratified random in proportion to the volume was employed. Data were collected using a questionnaire, which consisted of five parts (Demographic Characteristics, Educational Features, Internet usage questions, Electronic Health Literacy Scale Tool Questions). The Content validity of questionnaire was assessed in an interview with 3 health education experts and 4 health information experts. The reliability of the questionnaire was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha (overall Cronbach’s alpha was 0.89) Data analysis was conducted with SPSS version 21 statistic software package and descriptive statistics, independent t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient, ANOVA and Duncan's post hoc tests.
Results: According to the results of this study, the students had a good level of health literacy. There is also a significant difference between the level of health literacy of those access the Internet outside the college and those do not (p < 0.05). In addition, the most common place to use the Internet was the dormitory (% 43.8).
Conclusion: Planning for more to access the Internet outside of college for the students, especially in dorms, can help to improve students' health literacy. In addition, conducting workshops on how to search for electronic health information as well as introducing reliable sources and databases can be effective in enhancing students' health literacy

Keywords

References

1. Barati M, Fathi N, Aahmadpur E, Jormand H. Investigate the Relationship Between Health Literacy and Health Promoting Behavior in Students. Journal of Health Literacy. 2019;4(3):56-65.https://doi.org/10.22038/jhl.2019.43478.1082
2. Stellefson M, Hanik B, Chaney B, Chaney D, Tennant B, Chavarria EA. eHealth literacy among college students: a systematic review with implications for eHealth education. Journal of medical Internet research. 2011;13(4):e102.https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.1703.PMid:22155629 PMCid:PMC3278088
3. Neter E, Brainin E. eHealth literacy: extending the digital divide to the realm of health information. Journal of medical Internet research. 2012;14(1):e19.https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.1619.PMid:22357448 PMCid:PMC3374546
4. Tehrani H. Media Health Literacy. Journal of Health Literacy. 2016;1(3):141-6.https://doi.org/10.22038/jhl.2016.10853.PMid:22357448 PMCid:PMC3374546
5. Seyedi-Andi SJ, Heidari H, Sefidhaji S, Ghanbari M. The Effect of E-Learning on Self-Care Behaviors of People with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Babol. Iranian Journal of Health Education and Health Promotion. 2018;6(4):376-82.https://doi.org/10.30699/acadpub.ijhehp.6.4.376
6. van Deursen AJ, van Dijk JA. Internet skills performance tests: are people ready for eHealth? Journal of medical Internet research. 2011;13(2):e35.https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.1581. PMid:21531690 PMCid:PMC3221376
7. Baker DW, Wolf MS, Feinglass J, Thompson JA, Gazmararian JA, Huang J. Health literacy and mortality among elderly persons. Archives of internal medicine. 2007;167(14):1503-9.https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.167.14.1503. PMid:17646604
8. Kutner M, Greenberg E, Jin Y, Boyle B, Hsu Y-c, Dunleavy E. Literacy in Everyday Life: Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy. NCES 2007-490. National Center for Education Statistics. 2007.
9. Ghanbari S, Majlessi F, Ghaffari M, Mahmoodi Majdabadi M. Evaluation of health literacy of pregnant women in urban health centers of Shahid Beheshti Medical University. Daneshvar Medicine. 2012;19(97):1-12.
10. Ghazimirsaeed SJ, Ghaemizade M. E-Health Literacy among Postgraduate Students in Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran, during 2015-2016. Health Inf Manage 2018; 14(6): 243-8.
11. Dashti S, Peyman N, Tajfard M, Esmaeeli H. E-Health literacy of medical and health sciences university students in Mashhad, Iran in 2016: a pilot study. Electronic physician. 2017;9(3):3966.https://doi.org/10.19082/3966.PMid:28461871 PMCid:PMC5407229
12. Park H, Lee E. Self-reported eHealth literacy among undergraduate nursing students in South Korea: a pilot study. Nurse education today. 2015;35(2):408-13.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2014.10.022.PMid:25466791
13. Norman CD, Skinner HA. eHEALS: the eHealth literacy scale. Journal of medical Internet research. 2006;8(4):e27.https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.8.4.e27.PMid:17213046 PMCid:PMC1794004
14. Van der Vaart R, van Deursen AJ, Drossaert CH, Taal E, van Dijk JA, van de Laar MA. Does the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS) measure what it intends to measure? Validation of a Dutch version of the eHEALS in two adult populations. Journal of medical Internet research. 2011;13(4):e86.https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.1840. PMid:22071338 PMCid:PMC3222202
15. Afshari M, Khazaei S, Bahrami M, Merati H. Investigating adult health literacy in Tuyserkan city. J Educ Community Health. 2014;1(2):48-55.https://doi.org/10.20286/jech-010248
16. Tadayon H, Abbasi M, Rasouli HR. Evaluation of e-Health Literacy and Its Predictor Factors among Patients Referred To a Military Hospital in Tehran, Iran, 2017. Journal of Military Medicine. 2018;20(1):83-92.
17. Xesfingi S, Vozikis A. eHealth literacy: in the quest of the contributing factors. Interactive journal of medical research. 2016;5(2):e16.https://doi.org/10.2196/ijmr.4749.PMid:27226146 PMCid:PMC4899620
18. Holt KA, Karnoe A, Overgaard D, Nielsen SE, Kayser L, Røder ME, et al. Differences in the Level of Electronic Health Literacy Between Users and Nonusers of Digital Health Services: An Exploratory Survey of a Group of Medical Outpatients. Interactive Journal of Medical Research. 2019;8(2):e8423.https://doi.org/10.2196/ijmr.8423.PMid:30950809 PMCid:PMC6473204
19. Tubaishat A, Habiballah L. eHealth literacy among undergraduate nursing students. Nurse education today. 2016;42:47-52.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2016.04.003.PMid:27237352
20. Estacio EV, Whittle R, Protheroe J. The digital divide: examining socio-demographic factors associated with health literacy, access and use of internet to seek health information. Journal of health psychology. 2019 Oct;24(12):1668-75.https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105317695429.PMid:28810415
21. Levy H, Janke AT, Langa KM. Health literacy and the digital divide among older Americans. Journal of general internal medicine. 2015;30(3):284-9.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-014-3069-5.PMid:25387437 PMCid:PMC4351282
    







Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics