JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Greater access to the internet has increased the availability of health information. This makes eHealth literacy; the ability to seek, find, understand, and appraise health information from electronic resources and apply that knowledge to making a health-related decision, a crucial skill. Despite the increasing use of internet as a source of health information in developing countries, few studies have examined eHealth literacy of young adults, who frequently use internet to access health information.

Objective:

The aim of this study was to assess patterns of internet use and eHealth literacy level among university students, pursuing a non-health related degree, in Pakistan. The study also examined the association of eHealth literacy with physical activity level and dietary supplementation intake.

Methods:

A cross-sectional anonymous web-based survey was used to collect data about internet use, eHealth literacy and dietary supplementation practices. Of the 900 eligible university students invited to participate, 505 (56%) completed the questionnaire and were included in the analysis. Results were converted to mean values, analysis of frequencies, and associations using chi-square tests, where required; P ≤ 0.05 was considered significant.

Results:

The median eHEALS score was 29, which did not vary across gender and age. The most common type of health-related information searched by the participants (60.3%) was that related to healthy lifestyle. Those with high eHealth literacy reported more often using internet for finding people with similar health issues (P <.001). 70% of the participants reported using Google frequently to obtain health information. Use of specific social media platforms was not associated with eHealth literacy level. Neither frequency of physical activity, nor dietary supplementation practice was correlated with eHealth literacy of the participants.

Conclusions:

University students in a non-health related discipline in Pakistan had a higher or comparable confidence in their skills to find health related information on internet when compared with other populations, as indicated by the aggregate eHEALS scores. However, perceived eHealth literacy was not associated with health behaviours like physical activity levels and dietary supplementation. Further research is necessary regarding the extent to which eHealth literacy can be considered a panacea for solving public health challenges of the developing countries.