Journal of Health Literacy

Journal of Health Literacy

e-Health Literacy and Online Health Information-Seeking Behavior in Adults: A Systematic Review

Articles in Press

Document Type : Review Article.

Authors
Trisakti Halimah Delimasari 1
Annisa Arifatul Hikmah 1
Salihati Hanifa 1
Sri Iswahyuni 2
1 Health Information Management, Faculty of Health, Politeknik Negeri Jember, East Java, Indonesia.
2 Faculty of Nursing, School of Health Mambaul Ulum, Central Java, Indonesia.
10.22038/jhl.2026.93887.1989
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Despite the growing use of the internet as a source of health information, few studies have examined the relationship between eHealth literacy and online health information–seeking behavior among the general adult population. Understanding this association in the general population is important because adults increasingly rely on digital health information to make everyday health decisions. This study aimed to synthesize the existing evidence on the association between online health information–seeking behavior and eHealth literacy across its functional, interactive, and critical dimensions.

Material and Methods: This systematic review was conducted using electronic scientific databases. The authors followed 5 steps review framework which were 1), establish digital library search string; 2) gather study; 3) study selection and refinement; 4) data extraction, and 5) analysis and report. The literature search included all original articles published in English from 2013 to 2023. Data were analyzed accordingly.

Results: We included eleven primary observational studies in this review. Six studies reported that adult with higher health literacy score appear would also have higher health-related internet searching behavior. Two study found a substantial association between the overall eHealth literacy level and the relevance of accessing eHealth information. One study stated that eHealth literacy was associated with three dimensions (type, site, and time interval) of health service utilization. Another study also reported that health literacy has a considerable impact on undergraduates' attitudes toward getting help. However, one study founds no relationship between health literacy and searching for information to better understand their individual test result.

Conclusion: This current review reveals that there was a significant association between health literacy and health information seeking behavior.
Keywords
Adult
Online Health Information
e-Health Literacy
Seeking Behavior

Acknowledgement: We gratefully acknowledge the authors of the included papers.


Availability of data and materials: The data analyzed during the current systematic review is available inside the manuscript.


Conflicts of interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.


Consent for publication: Not applicable.


Ethics approval and consent to participate: Not applicable. The study aims to perform a systematic review of existing literature and requires formal ethics committee approval. Informed consent for participants is unnecessary. This technique follows the principles expressed in the Declaration of Helsinki, upholding ethical standards in literature reviews.


Funding: This review did not receive any grants from any organizations or individuals.


Author Contributions: Conceptualization: Trisakti Halimah Delimasari. Data collection and analysis: Trisakti Halimah Delimasari, Annisa Arifatul Hikmah, and Salihati Hanifah. Manuscript drafting: Trisakti Halimah Delimasari, Annisa Arifatul Hikmah, and Sri Iswahyuni. Review and editing: Arifatul Hikmah and Salihati Hanifah.

 

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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Journal of Health Literacy

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 08 August 2026