Assessing Internet Surfing Behaviours and Digital Health Literacy among University Students in Ghana during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This study assessed the internet surfing behaviours and digital health literacy (DHL) among university students in Ghana during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research was guided by three major objectives: (1) examine the online information searching behaviours of university students during the COVID-19 pandemic, (2) investigate the thematic areas university students searched during COVID-19, and (3) examine the DHL level of university students. The study conveniently sampled 1014 university students to solicit their responses through questionnaire administration. Using frequency and percent counts, multiple response analysis, as well as mean and standard deviation, the study revealed that the predominant platforms university students used were search engines (n = 954, 94.1%), social media (n = 950, 93.7%), and WhatsApp (n = 950, 93.7%). Predominant themes among the thematic areas university students searched during COVID-19 were symptoms of COVID-19 (n = 701, 81.7%), COVID-19 vaccines (n = 689, 80.3%), and transmission routes of the coronavirus (n = 664, 77.4%). Further, other results showed that students enrolled in health-related programmes showed significantly higher levels of DHL compared to those in non-health-related programmes. The findings suggest the need to implement health education measures to strengthen students’ health literacy capacities and their DHL ability. This finding requires governments and health authorities to implement evidence-informed health communication strategies to provide valid and reliable health information concerning the COVID-19 pandemic and support individuals to make health-promoting decisions.

Assessing secondary school students’ digital health literacy, information searching behaviours, and satisfaction with online COVID-19 information in Northern Ghana

“…Some studies have indicated a moderate to high level (i.e., sufficient) of DHL among students [ 10 , 13 , 19 ] while others have found a low/limited level of DHL among students [ [20] , [21] , [22] , [23] ]. For instance, in the USA [ 10 ], Denmark [ 24 ] and Pakistan [ 13 ], it was found that students had high DHL levels.…”

The moderating influence of perceived government information transparency on COVID-19 pandemic information adoption on social media systems

“…Ghana’s government widely uses social media systems to communicate COVID-19-related information to the general public and social media systems remained a vital source of information for the Ghanaian public about COVID-19 pandemic management information( Adu-Gyamfi and Asante, 2022 ; Britwum et al, 2023 ). Eyifah (2021) noted that 59.5% of Ghanaians use social media systems, particularly Facebook and WhatsApp as the main source to obtain information related to the COVID-19 pandemic management.…”