Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Human Factors
Date Submitted: Jul 3, 2018
Open Peer Review Period: Jul 8, 2018 - Jul 22, 2018
Date Accepted: Mar 29, 2019
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
eHealth literacy: Is it hindered by age?
ABSTRACT
Background:
The world’s Internet penetration rate is increasing yearly; approximately 25% of the world’s population are Internet users. In Asia, Taiwan has the fifth highest Internet usage and has an Internet penetration rate higher than the world average. eHealth literacy is the ability to read, understand, and utilize online health information. eHealth literacy is gaining attention worldwide.
Objective:
This study uses “age” as a background variable, comparing the differences in eHealth literacy among college students and senior university students. To examine this issue further, this study also summarizes the college students’ and senior university students’ online health information experiences and performances. This study aims to explore the difference between eHealth literacy rates among college students and senior university students. It examined the differences in eHealth literacy among the senior university student (over age 55) and college students to gain an in-depth understanding of the differences that exist across age groups.
Methods:
A mixed method approach was used, including questionnaire surveys. College students (aged 18–22) and senior university students (aged 55–72) were investigated. A total of 208 respondents—65 (31.25%) college students and 143 (68.75%) senior university students—were interviewed.
Results:
There were significant differences in the overall eHealth literacy scores (t207 = 2.98; P < .01) and the functional eHealth literacy dimension (t207 = 12.17; P < .001). The findings showed gaps in eHealth literacy among the two groups .
Conclusions:
Most study participants believed that most online health information could be read and understood; however, they were doubtful when evaluating information quality. and noted that it was divided into subjective judgments and objective standards. College students preferred aesthetically pleasing health information, while senior university students focused on its promotion. Furthermore, the former often used websites for solving health problems, while the latter forwarded health information through communication software.
Citation
Per the author's request the PDF is not available.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.