IC-Health Project: Development of MOOCs to Promote Digital Health Literacy: First Results and Future Challenges

Abstract

Digital health literacy (DHL) is the ability to search, understand and evaluate information from digital media and apply that knowledge to solve health problems. However, currently many citizens have not developed these skills, and this compromises not only the self-management of their health, but the possibility that health services are socially sustainable. The objective of this article was to present the objectives, activities and results of the IC-Health project whose objective was to develop a series of massive open online courses (MOOCs) to improve the DHL skills of European citizens. An exploratory report on DHL’s current evidence was developed. Furthermore, a survey, focus groups and group interviews were conducted to determine DHL levels and the needs of population cohorts (children; adolescents; pregnant and lactating women; the elderly; and people affected by type 1 and type 2 diabetes). A participation strategy with end users was designed through a community of practice for the creation of MOOCs with the seven European countries that participated in the consortium. Thirty-five MOOCs were developed in eight different languages and a descriptive and exploratory assessment of MOOCs was conducted with new participants. This first evaluation indicated that MOOCs can be an effective educational resource for DHL and a facilitator of shared decision-making processes. The process of co-creation of MOOCs, the components, the challenges and the opportunities identified in this European project could be useful for other developers of MOOCs who want to co-create interventions with beneficiaries in similar settings. Further longer-term actions are still needed to improve citizens’ DHL.

Facing the Growing COVID-19 Infodemic: Digital Health Literacy and Information-Seeking Behaviour of University Students in Slovenia

“…In general, the results indicate that DHL levels among students are sufficient. Of all the DHL questions used, the percentage of respondents reporting no difficulties fell below 70% on only two questions (both within the reliability assessment subscale), which is similar to some other studies [12,41,51]. Given that higher DHL is associated with higher well-being and self-efficacy for pandemic-related stress [53], this finding is promising.…”

“…Therefore, the development of HL is essential for empowering individuals to understand and use online information in an effective and health-promoting way [41]. As demonstrated, DHL directly and indirectly affects health.…”

Co-Creation of Massive Open Online Courses to Improve Digital Health Literacy in Pregnant and Lactating Women

“…The methodological design carried out for the development of the MOOCs included a series of preliminary phases composed of a review of the literature, an exploratory survey with all cohorts of participants in the IC-Health project and the conduct of focus groups and group interviews, followed by the formation of communities of practice (CoPs) to co-design the MOOCs ( Figure 1 ). A broader description of the methodology of IC-Health Project can be found in Perestelo-Pérez et al 2020 [ 33 ]. In this paper, we report the results of the focus groups and the co-creation process whereby MOOCs aimed to PLW were developed.…”

Exploring Canadian Children’s Social Media Use, Digital Literacy, and Quality of Life: Pilot Cross-sectional Survey Study

“…Considering North America's information and data-driven society, sufficient digital health literacy skills are, and will continue to be, a crucial component of full and informed participation within evolving educational, civic, corporate, social, and economic spaces [5][6][7]. It is, therefore, essential that digital device users of all ages, including young children, develop proficient digital health literacy skills to best support their overall well-being [45].…”

“…Digital inclusion refers to mending the digital divide in terms of enhancing equitable access to digital devices and the internet so that individuals can meaningfully participate in all sectors of a knowledge-and information-driven society [3,4]. Considering North America's information and data-powered infrastructure, digital literacy skills are, and will continue to be, a crucial component of full and informed participation within evolving educational, civic, corporate, social, and economic spaces [5][6][7].…”