Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Public Health and Surveillance
Date Submitted: May 3, 2023
Date Accepted: Jan 23, 2024
Digital health literacy of the population in Germany and its association with physical health, mental health, life satisfaction, and health behaviors: Nationally representative study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Digital health literacy, also known as eHealth literacy, describes the ability to seek, find, understand, and apply health information from the Internet to address health problems. The World Health Organization calls for actions to improve digital health literacy. To develop target group specific digital health literacy interventions, it is necessary to know the digital health literacy of the general population and relevant subgroups.
Objective:
The aim of the present study is to representatively assess the digital health literacy of the German population and relevant subgroups. The results are meant to facilitate the development of target group specific digital health literacy interventions. Additionally, the present study further explores the associations between digital health literacy and physical health, mental health, life satisfaction and diverse health behaviors.
Methods:
Study participants were drawn from a representative panel of the German-speaking online population. To further increase the representativeness of the sample, survey weights were calculated using an iterative proportional fitting procedure. Participants answered a series of questionnaires regarding their digital health literacy, physical health, mental health, life satisfaction, and diverse health behaviors. Two-sided independent sample t-test were conducted to determine significant differences between societal subgroups. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to explore the correlates of digital health literacy.
Results:
Digital health literacy is unevenly distributed within German society. Especially older people, people with a low level of formal education, and people with a low social status demonstrate low levels of digital health literacy. Furthermore, digital health literacy is positively correlated with physical health, mental health, life satisfaction, exercise routines, fruit consumption, and vegetable consumption.
Conclusions:
Overall, the results of the present study demonstrate that digital health literacy is associated with diverse health outcomes and behaviors. Furthermore, the results provide a starting point for the development of target group specific digital health literacy interventions.
Citation
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Copyright
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