Journal of Health Literacy

Journal of Health Literacy

The Relationship between the Use of Information Technologies and Smartphone Addiction Levels With Digital Healthy Diet Literacy Among Nursing Students

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Fatma ERSIN 1
Medine KILIC 2, 3
Ozlem KACKIN 4
1 Harran University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Public Health Nursing, ŞANLIURFA, 63100, TÜRKİYE.
2 Harran University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Public Health Nursing, Şanlıurfa, 63100, TÜRKİYE.
3 İnönü University, Institute of Health Sciences, Public Health Nursing Doctoral Program, Malatya, 44000, TÜRKİYE.
4 Harran University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Psychiatric Nursing, ŞANLIURFA, 63100, TÜRKİYE
10.22038/jhl.2025.88451.1785
Abstract
Background and Objective: In today's digital era, the increasing integration of technology into daily life has significantly influenced health behaviors and literacy, particularly among university students in health-related fields such as nursing. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the use of information technologies and smartphone addiction levels with digital healthy diet literacy among nursing students.

Material and Methods: This descriptive study was conducted with 368 nursing students between January and May 2023. Data was collected using the Descriptive Information Form, the Information Technology Use Scale, the Smartphone Addiction Scale, and the Digital Healthy Diet Literacy Scale. 

Results: The mean scores of these scales were 56.25±8.85, 32.14±9.86 and 20.05±10.51 respectively. There was a significant difference in the scores on the Scale of Utilization of Information Technologies by grade level (p<0.05), with a significant difference between second and fourth graders (p=.025). A positive, very weak, significant correlation was found between the Scale of Utilization of Information Technologies and the Digital Healthy Diet Literacy Scale (r=.161, p=.002), and between the Smartphone Addiction Scale and the Digital Healthy Diet Literacy Scale (r=.153, p=.003).  Multiple regression analysis indicated that both information technology use (β =.135, p =.010) and smartphone addiction (β =.126, p=.017) were weak but significant predictors of digital healthy diet literacy, although the overall model accounted for only 3.6% of the variance (F(2, 365) =7.81, p<.001).

Conclusion: The study suggests that there are weak but significant relationships between levels of information technology use, smartphone addiction and digital healthy diet literacy that vary by grade level. 
Keywords
Diet
Digital Health
Information Technologies
Nursing Students
Smartphone Addiction

Acknowledgements: We would like to thank all of the nursing students who participated in this study for their support. We would like to thank the participants who contributed to this study.


Availability of data and materials: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [O.K], upon reasonable request.


Conflicts of interest: The authors have disclosed that they have no significant relationships with, or financial interest in, any commercial companies pertaining to this article.


Consent for publication: Not applicable.


Ethical Approval and consent to participate: This study was conducted in full accordance with the ethical standards outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki. Ethical approval was granted by the Clinical Research Ethics Committee of Harran University (Approval Date: 01/09/2023; Approval Number: 2023/01/15). Written informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to their inclusion in the study.


Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.


Author Contributions: Conceptualization: F.E., M.K., and Ö.K. Methodology: F.E., and Ö.K.Software, validation, and formal analysis: F.E., M.K., Investigation: F.E., M.K., and Ö.K. Data curation: F.E., M.K., and Ö.K. Writing—original draft preparation: F.E., M.K., and Ö.K. Writing—review and editing: F.E., M.K., and Ö.K. Visualization: F.E., M.K., and Ö.K. Supervision: F.E Project administration: F.E. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

 

Open Access Policy: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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