Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Nov 8, 2020
Date Accepted: Apr 3, 2021
Date Submitted to PubMed: Apr 6, 2021
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
The Association between Health Literacy, eHealth Literacy and COVID-19 Coping Behaviors in Chinese College Students: A Cross-Sectional Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Internet has spread a lot of information and provided people with knowledge and advice on health protection for COVID-19. However, few studies have focused on the relationship between health literacy, eHealth literacy and COVID-19 coping behaviors.
Objective:
This study aimed to examine the association between health literacy, eHealth literacy and COVID-19 coping behaviors in Chinese college students.
Methods:
The snowball sampling method was adopted to conduct an anonymous online cross-sectional questionnaire survey. Participants completed surveys on health literacy, eHealth literacy, and COVID-19 coping behaviors. Linear regression was used to explore the association between health literacy, eHealth literacy and COVID-19 coping behaviors, whereas factor analysis was used to analyze the factor structure of the COVID19 coping behaviors.
Results:
A total of 1,873 college students aged 18-25 were recruited. 781 (41.7%) had adequate health literacy. The mean eHealth literacy score was 30.2 ±6.3. The results of factor analysis showed that COVID-19 coping behaviors had two dimensions, namely health protection behaviors and adapting behaviors. COVID-19 coping behaviors score differed significantly (P<.05) with respect to residence, grade, major, family economic level, self-reported health status, family member or friend infected with coronavirus, self-reported coronavirus knowledge level and health literacy level. Further, according to linear regression analysis, health literacy (Beta=.19, P<.001) and eHealth literacy (Beta=.39, P<.001) were positively associated with COVID-19 coping behaviors.
Conclusions:
College students with higher health literacy and eHealth literacy had better COVID-19 coping behaviors. Nevertheless, COVID-19 coping behaviors varied with respect to place of residence, grade, major, family economic level, self-reported health status, family member or friend infected with coronavirus, self-reported coronavirus knowledge level and health literacy level. Therefore, enhancing health literacy and eHealth literacy has, to some extent, helped in reducing the risk of COVID-19 infection among college students in China. Prospective cohort studies at a larger scale are therefore needed to ascertain these findings.
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