Exploring the eHealth literacy and mobile health application utilisation amongst Malaysian pharmacy students

Abstract

Introduction Pharmacy students should be eHealth literate by being skilful in searching, evaluating and applying online health information. Mobile health applications should be utilised when making clinical decisions to achieve optimal patient care with the ever-changing pharmacy practice. This study aims to explore the eHealth literacy and mobile health application utilisation amongst pharmacy undergraduates. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted from March to April 2021. An online survey, consisting of socio-demographic characteristics, Internet use, eHealth Literacy Scale and mobile health application utilisation, was distributed amongst pharmacy undergraduates in public and private universities in Malaysia. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance test, Mann–Whitney U test and Kruskal–Wallis test Results A total of 415 participants completed the survey (response rate = 82.5%). The median eHealth Literacy Scale score (out of 40) was 31.0 ± 3.0 (interquartile range). More than one-third of participants (34.7%) were found to have low eHealth literacy. Many lacked confidence in making health decisions from online information (42.4%) and skills in distinguishing between high-quality and low-quality health resources (35.2%). Only 70.4% of the participants had mobile health applications installed on their smartphones and/or tablets. Some students felt that they were neither knowledgeable nor skilful enough to utilise mobile health applications (24.8%), whereas 23.9% were unaware of the mobile health applications available. Conclusion In summary, the eHealth literacy of Malaysian pharmacy students can be further enhanced by incorporating eHealth literacy-focused programmes into the curriculum. Moreover, pharmacy students’ mobile health application utilisation can be improved through increased awareness and support from universities.

Topics Included in Health Literacy Studies in Asia: A Systematic Review

“…130,134 Higher eHealth literacy was associated with better disease prevention measures, healthier lifestyle, and health outcomes. 127,129,131,133,134,137,138 During the COVID-19 pandemic, higher eHealth literacy was associated with better prevention behaviors, better health-related quality of life, and less anxiety. 126 -128,132,135,136,139…”

“…125 -130 Taiwan, Vietnam, and Malaysia all had eHealth literacy surveys for students who had better access to digital data. 131 -133 In addition, each country had an additional study on different population groups, including people aged 18 and above in Taiwan, 134 outpatients in Vietnam, 135 and low-income people in Malaysia. 136…”

“…[125][126][127][128][129][130] Taiwan, Vietnam, and Malaysia all had eHealth literacy surveys for students who had better access to digital data. [131][132][133] In addition, each country had an additional study on different population groups, including people aged 18 and above in Taiwan, 134 outpatients in Vietnam, 135 and low-income people in Malaysia. 136 eHealth literacy significantly differed between ages, 130,131,134,129 genders, 130,132,134,137 educations, 127,130,134,136,137,138 income, 127,134,137 internet use, 134,129,137 and health status.…”

A mobile health application for prostate cancer antigen dosage: is it time to say goodbye to classic screening methods?

“…If it is not normal, a PCA nurse discusses the matter, arranges a confirmatory PSA check, and schedules a face-to-face consultation with the urologist (Bergroth et al , 2021). This approach may outstand in accuracy the follow-up conducted by general practitioner and represents an investment into clinical practice (Bergroth et al , 2021; Blebil et al ., 2023). Indeed, this approach had a saving in Euros of 1199–2939 (87–94%) during a ten-year follow-up (Bergroth et al , 2021).…”

Mobile Applications for the Implementation of Health Control against Covid-19 in Educational Centers, a Systematic Review of the Literature

“…[17], [19], [20], [26], [41], [52], [53], [67], [68], [76], [94], [96], [99], [104], [109], [121], [123], [127] These articles take into account the quality attributes of functionality and security since they emphasize that all software must do the job for which it was developed and, nowadays, all software must have a decent degree of security since the Covid-19 pandemic has increased the rate of cybercrime. [18], [21], [22], [50], [54], [70], [125], [126] These articles take into account the quality attributes of functionality, performance, and reliability, they mention these quality attributes because they consider that software must perform its functions correctly with speed and accuracy, being able to operate with a large amount of data, such as the data generated by the Covid-19 pandemic, without having a long waiting time.…”