JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Increasingly, TYA seek out health information online, however it is not clear whether they possess electronic health literacy (eHL): the ability to select, appraise and utilise good quality health information from the internet. It is important to understand which factors may influence the development of eHL in young people, as this generation will continue to ‘Google it’ when faced with a health problem throughout their lives. Moreover, with one in two of the population set to experience cancer in our lifetime it would seem prudent to also explore the effects of exposure to cancer on young people’s development of eHL.

Objective:

To explore potential factors influencing young people’s electronic health literacy.

Methods:

One hundred and eighty-seven, undergraduate Psychology students from a large UK University were recruited as an opportunity sample. Eighty-eight participants were female with a mean age of 20.13 (SD=2.16) and the majority were white British (84.6%). Employing a cross sectional design TYA completed the following measures exploring Electronic Health Literacy (eHEALS); Irrational Health Beliefs; (IHB), Newest Vital Sign (NVS) a measure of functional health literacy, Need for Cognition (NFC) a preference for effortful cognitive activity and General Self-Efficacy (GSE) exploring personal agency and confidence. Participants were also grouped on whether a close or non-close friend or family member had cancer, overall 85.6% had vicarious experience of cancer

Results:

eHEALS and GSE were significantly positively correlated (r=.28, P<.001) and linear modelling revealed GSE as the only significant predictor of scores on the eHEALS accounting for 9.4% of the variance. A between groups 2x2 MANOVA (Pillai’s Trace) was conducted (N=151) to explore the effects of cancer exposure to close/non-close friend/family member, yes/no. A follow up univariate ANOVA revealed significant interaction effects on the eHEALS in that higher mean scores were demonstrated for participants who had a non close family member cancer (M=30.29, SD=4.33) than those who did not (M=28.45, SD 5.50) P=.03. Similarly, participants with a non-close friend with cancer had significantly higher mean NFC total scores (M=60.83, SD=10.99), than those who did not (M=57.17, SD=11.67) P=.02.

Conclusions:

This is the first study in the UK to explore relationships between these key variables in a TYA setting. The findings that self-efficacy has a major influence on eHL should consolidate its status as fundamental to the development of eHL. Given that exposure to illness (cancer) influenced eHL future studies will explore whether physical and mental health status is a significant predictor of eHL in a TYA setting.