Current status and influencing factors of digital health literacy among community-dwelling older adults in Southwest China: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background The rapid development of digital health has reduced the time and cost of medical treatment, bringing efficient and economical benefits. However, older adults all over the world are deficient in digital health knowledge and skills to varying degrees. This study intends to investigate the current status and influencing factors of digital health literacy among community-dwelling older adults in Southwest China, so as to provide theoretical reference for global digital health researches and the construction of gerontological digital health service models. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted from September 2020 to April 2021 in Chongqing, China. 572 community-dwelling older adults (≥ 65 years) were surveyed by stratified sampling. Data on sociodemographic characteristics, Internet usage, attitude towards Internet health information and digital health literacy were collected. Wherein, the digital health literacy assessment adopted the Digital Health Literacy Assessment Scale for community-dwelling older adults, which was developed by the research group, proven to be with good internal consistency (0.941), split-half reliability (0.889), test–retest reliability (0.941), content validity (0.967), criterion validity (0.938) and construct validity. The influencing factors were explored by univariate analysis and multiple linear regression analysis. Results The average score of digital health literacy was 37.10 (SD 18.65). Univariate analysis showed that there were statistically significant differences in the comparison of digital health literacy according to 16 variables, such as different age and education levels. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that education level, marital status, self-rated health status, degree of health concerns, duration of Internet usage, time spent using the Internet per day, frequency of Internet usage, frequency of receiving guidance passively from family members, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived reliability were positively correlated with digital health literacy, while age and perceived risk were negatively correlated with digital health literacy. Conclusion The overall digital health literacy of community-dwelling older adults in Southwest China is relatively low. In the future, health professionals should fully consider the diverse influencing factors of digital health literacy, assess individual differences and provide targeted intervention programs. Meanwhile, global public health authorities should integrate health resources effectively, and seek health service models for older adults in line with the development of the digital age to narrow the digital divide.

Gender Difference in the Association Between Stroke Knowledge and Health Behavior Before the Onset of Stroke Among Chinese Hypertensive Patients

“…Other studies have shown similar results in Chinese population. Liu et al 17 studied an elderly population in China and found that female sex is one of the major risk factors associated with low health knowledge. Pan et al 18 conducted a survey in northwest China of stroke patients' health knowledge and also got similar results.…”

Factors Associated With Limited Digital Health Literacy Among Chinese Male Populations: Cross-sectional Study

“…This association was also identified by Knapp et al [ 53 ]; older age was correlated with lower levels of agreement on the eHEALS. This can be explained by the fact that older adults have very limited acceptance and application of digital health [ 54 , 55 ] because they have difficulty navigating the internet and knowing which resources to trust [ 56 ] and turning the internet health knowledge into action and applying it to health self-management [ 57 ]. The lack of eHealth literacy has become a major impediment preventing older adults from integrating into the digital society and benefiting from convenient and efficient eHealth services [ 57 ].…”

“…This can be explained by the fact that older adults have very limited acceptance and application of digital health [ 54 , 55 ] because they have difficulty navigating the internet and knowing which resources to trust [ 56 ] and turning the internet health knowledge into action and applying it to health self-management [ 57 ]. The lack of eHealth literacy has become a major impediment preventing older adults from integrating into the digital society and benefiting from convenient and efficient eHealth services [ 57 ]. It is imperative to improve older adults’ perceptions of the usefulness, ease of use, and reliability of eHealth services and to reduce their perception of eHealth-related risks [ 58 ].…”

Características associadas à Literacia em saúde e Literacia Digital em saúde em idosos de uma cidade do interior do Paraná

“…Somente 35% demonstraram ter problema com a literacia em saúde, ressaltando que quanto maior o grau de escolaridade, maior a renda e, consequentemente, a literacia em saúde (Gustafsdottir et al, 2022). Corroborando com esses achados, em uma pesquisa referente aos fatores que influenciam a literacia em saúde entre os idosos com média de idade de 70,93 anos de uma comunidade do sudoeste da China, em que 67,83% dos participantes tinham apenas o ensino médio ou inferior, constataram que a literacia em saúde digital dos idosos era relativamente baixa (Liu et al, 2022). Na sociedade contemporânea, são mais de 4,5 bilhões de usuários da internet ao redor do mundo, o que corresponde a 58,8% da população mundial (Internet World Stats, 2019).…”