Online health information seeking and health literacy among non-medical college students: gender differences

Hassan, Sherine; Masoud, Omar

doi:10.1007/s10389-020-01243-w

Cited by 57 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The high popularity of this category among young Czech adults confirms the findings of Leung and Chen, who similarly reported these activities being the most popular among Hong Kong respondents. What is more, the popularity of these activities was highlighted in a number of other studies [ 46 , 47 ]. Interestingly, recent research has uncovered how health information is often consumed through social media platforms such as YouTube and Instagram [ 48 , 49 ], and this seems to be an important research theme for future studies due to the growing popularity of these platforms both in the Czech Republic and abroad.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Usage of eHealth/mHealth Services among Young Czech Adults and the Impact of COVID-19: An Explorative Survey

Doležel

Smutný

2021

IJERPH

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Various mHealth/eHealth services play an increasingly important role in healthcare systems and personal lifestyle management. Yet, the relative popularity of these services among the young population of the Czech Republic was not known. Therefore, we carried out an on-line survey with a convenience sample (n = 299) of young adults aged 18–29 and living in the Czech Republic. To this end, we adapted the survey instrument which was previously used in a similar study conducted in a different cultural context (Hong Kong). In our study, we found out that health tutorial activities (i.e., acquiring information on diet, exercise, fitness) were the most common among our respondents (M = 2.81, SD = 1.14). These were followed by health information seeking activities (i.e., acquiring information on medical problems) (M = 2.63, SD = 0.89) and medical services (i.e., the eHealth/mHealth services that provide infrastructural support, such as ePrescription and doctor appointment organizers) (M = 2.18, SD = 0.97). Based on the grouping according to gender and existing health condition, pairwise comparisons showed statistically significant differences. We also briefly analyzed the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the examined activities. Based on their relative popularity, we suggest leveraging the potential of health tutorial activities to improve public health.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Usage of eHealth/mHealth Services among Young Czech Adults and the Impact of COVID-19: An Explorative Survey

Doležel

Smutný

2021

IJERPH

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“…Although such internet use is prevalent, social inequalities persist. Mirroring findings across all age groups [19][20][21][22], among young adults, women and those with higher socioeconomic status are more likely to seek health information online than men and people from less privileged backgrounds [6,7,[23][24][25]. Differing from reports on older age groups [22], studies of young adults report little variation across racial and ethnic groups with regard to health information-seeking online [6,7,24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Relationship Between Internet Use and Change in Health Status: Panel Study of Young Adults (Preprint)

Hunsaker¹,

Hargittai²,

Micheli³

2020

Preprint

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BACKGROUND

Using the Internet for health information is a widespread phenomenon that considerable scholarship has documented. Less common, however, is the analysis of panel data to examine how Internet use may relate to change in health status over time.

OBJECTIVE

This study examines whether Internet use and Internet use related to health are associated with a change in health status among young adults.

METHODS

We use a unique panel survey data set collected about young adults’ Internet uses in 2012 and 2016. We apply logistic regression to examine the relationships between sociodemographics, Internet experiences, frequency of health-related Internet use, and sharing health content online with change in health status over time. We additionally examine the variables characterizing sharing health content online (via Facebook, Twitter, and email) in separate models.

RESULTS

In the second wave, over half of the sample (61%) used the Internet for health at least weekly. Approximately one-third (37%) used Facebook for health-content sharing, while using Twitter and using email for sharing health content were far less frequent (4%, and 14%, respectively). A change in health status occurred for 43% of the sample; 19% reported an improvement while 25% reported a decline. Greater frequency of Internet use is associated with health decline over time (B =-.58, P=.02). We also find that frequent health-related Internet use related to enhanced health or maintained health (B=.58, P=.03). Sharing health content on social media or email, however, is not related to young adults’ health changes.

CONCLUSIONS

Young adults exhibit a pattern of using the Internet for health that influences their health status. Our finding that frequent health-related Internet use may promote improved or maintained health suggests that this type of online activity might also support healthy living.

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“…Although such internet use is prevalent, social inequalities persist. Mirroring findings across all age groups [ 19 - 22 ], among young adults, women and those with higher socioeconomic status are more likely to seek health information online than men and people from less privileged backgrounds [ 6 , 7 , 23 - 25 ]. Differing from reports on older age groups [ 22 ], studies of young adults report little variation across racial and ethnic groups with regard to health information–seeking online [ 6 , 7 , 24 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship Between Internet Use and Change in Health Status: Panel Study of Young Adults

Hunsaker¹,

Hargittai²,

Micheli³

2021

J Med Internet Res

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Background Using the internet for health information is a widespread phenomenon documented in considerable scholarship. Less common, however, is the analysis of panel data to examine how internet use may relate to change in health status over time. Objective This study examines whether internet use and internet use related to health are associated with a change in health status among young adults. Methods We used a unique panel survey data set collected about young adults’ internet use in 2012 and 2016 (n=384). We applied logistic regression to examine the relationships between sociodemographics, internet experiences, frequency of health-related internet use, and sharing health content online with change in health status over time. We additionally examined the variables characterizing sharing health content online (via Facebook, Twitter, and email) in separate models. Results In the second wave, over half (236/384, 61.5%) of the sample used the internet for health at least weekly. Approximately one-third (141/384, 36.7%) used Facebook for health-content sharing, while using Twitter and email for sharing health content were far less frequent (14/384, 3.6%, and 55/384, 14.3%, respectively). A change in health status occurred for 43.0% (165/384) of the sample; 18.5% (71/384) reported an improvement while 24.5% (94/384) reported a decline. Greater frequency of internet use was associated with health decline over time ( B =–0.58, P =.02). We also found that frequent health-related internet use was related to enhanced health or maintained health ( B =0.58, P =.03). Sharing health content on social media or email, however, was not related to young adults’ health changes. Conclusions Young adults exhibit a pattern of using the internet for health that influences their health status. Our finding that frequent health-related internet use may promote improved or maintained health suggests that this type of online activity might also support healthy living.

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Online health information seeking and health literacy among non-medical college students: gender differences

Cited by 57 publications

References 29 publications

Usage of eHealth/mHealth Services among Young Czech Adults and the Impact of COVID-19: An Explorative Survey

Usage of eHealth/mHealth Services among Young Czech Adults and the Impact of COVID-19: An Explorative Survey

Relationship Between Internet Use and Change in Health Status: Panel Study of Young Adults (Preprint)

Relationship Between Internet Use and Change in Health Status: Panel Study of Young Adults

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