Digital health literacy of nursing or medical students: related factors

The level of digital health literacy of undergraduate nursing or medical students from three institutions was assessed using the Brazilian version of the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS), whose score ranges from 8 to 40; the higher the score, the higher the self-reported literacy level. Relationships between the eHEALS score and sociodemographic and academic variables were assessed using the Mann Whitney or Kruskal Wallis tests, with a significance level of 5%. When the Kruskal Wallis test was significant, the Dunn’s test was used for two by two comparisons.

Results

346 students participated in the study, with a mean age of 23.0±5.0 years, 71.5% female, 51.6% from the Nursing course. The mean eHEALS score was 31.6±4.4. Higher eHEALS scores were associated with the male gender, attending a public institution, full-time course, longer time since enrollment in the course, having close people who seek health information online, mastering another language, and feeling good/very good about their current health. The literacy level was positively correlated with age, and the usefulness of the internet and its health content. Lower scores were reached in the item “I feel confident in using information from the internet to make health decisions”.

Conclusion

Sociodemographic and academic characteristics are related to the digital health literacy of university students. These results can support and direct curricular efforts in universities, engaging future health professionals in the dissemination of reliable information inside and outside the academic context, and in technology-assisted care.

Health literacy; Computer literacy; Students, nursing; Students, medical; Socioeconomic factors

eHEALS items	Score
eHEALS items	Mean	SD
1. I know what health resources are available on the internet	3.8	0.8
2. I know where to find helpful health resources on the internet	4.1	0.8
3. I know how to find helpful health resources on the internet	4.0	0.6
4. I know how to use the internet to answer my questions about health	4.1	0.7
5. I know how to use the health information I find on the internet to help me	4.1	0.7
6. I have the skills I need to evaluate the health resources I find on the internet	4.0	0.8
7. I can tell high quality health resources from low quality health resources on the internet	4.1	0.8
8. I feel confident in using information from the internet to make health decisions	3.5	1.0

Variables	eHEALS score
Variables	Mean	SD	p-value
Gender			0.004*
Male	32.7	4.8
Female	31.3	4.3
Course			0.117*
Nursing	31.3	4.3
Medicine	32	4.5
Institution			<0.001#
A	30.7	4.8
B	30.8	4.1
C	33.4	3.9
Course semestre			<0.001#
10	34.4	5.1
9	34.2	4.5
6	33.8	3.5
4	33.0	3.7
8	32.9	3.3
11	32.6	5.9
7	32.4	4.5
5	31.1	4.6
2	30.6	3.6
3	30.2	4.5
1	28.2	3.9
Time			<0.001#
Daytime/full-time	32.4	4.3
Morning	30.3	4.4
Evening	29.8	3.9
Number of financial dependants			0.271#
0	31.8	4.3
1	31.4	5.6
2	30.3	4
3	32.4	4.6
4	32.5	4.1
5	32.1	3.5
6	29.4	5
Area of residence			0.140*
Urban	31.6	4.4
Rural	29.2	4.1
Relationship status			0.486*
Does not live with a partner	31.6	4.4
Lives with partner	31.1	4.7
Close people seek health information on the internet			0.003*
No	28.3	5.4
Yes	31.8	4.3
Mastery of a second language			<0.001*
No	30	4.2
Yes	32.2	4.4
Ethnicity			0.306#
Asian	32.6	5.2
Caucasian	31.6	4.4
Mixed	30.7	4.7
African-Americaan	32.2	3.8
Religion			0.581#
Afro-Brazilian	31.2	4.3
Buddhism	27.5	8.3
Catholic	31.1	4.6
Spiritist	32	2.9
Evangelical	31.8	3.7
None	32.4	4.4
Other	30.6	5.4
Work situation			0.235#
Not economically active	31.7	4.4
Economically active	31.2	4.4
Family income			0.342#
Above R$ 23,345	31.4	5.6
up to R$ 708	32.7	3.8
R$ 1,692 - R$ 2,966	30.6	4.7
R$ 10,388 - R$ 23,345	42.5	4.2
R$ 2,967 - R$ 5,363	31.5	4.1
R$ 5,364 - R$ 10,387	31.7	4.2
R$ 709 - R$ 1,691	31.8	4.3

Variable/eHEALS score	Spearman’s Rho	p-value
Age	0.253	<0.001
How useful do you feel the internet is in helping you in making decisions about your health?	0.371	<0.001
How important it is for you to be able to access health resources on the internet?	0.240	<0.001

Escola Paulista de Enfermagem, Universidade Federal de São Paulo R. Napoleão de Barros, 754, 04024-002 São Paulo - SP/Brasil, Tel./Fax: (55 11) 5576 4430 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: actapaulista@unifesp.br

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[1] Corresponding author: Camila Takáo Lopes E-mail: ctlopes@unifesp.br