eHealth Literacy and Health Behaviors Affecting Modern College Students: A Pilot Study of Issues Identified by the American College Health Association

Abstract

BackgroundThe eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS) has been widely adopted by researchers to understand how eHealth literacy can be put into context. eHealth researchers need to know how to promote positive health behavior changes across college students, given the importance of the Internet to acquire and use health information. The American College Health Association identified a set of key health issues that affect college students today. By understanding how eHEALS might be related to college students’ maintenance of their health and their use of online health resources, researchers will be provided with a better understanding of eHealth literacy and its pragmatic implications for health campaigns and future interventions.ObjectiveThe goal of the study was to examine what eHEALS reveals about college student health behaviors identified by the American College Health Association. To understand college student current health maintenance and their intentions to maintain their health and use online resources, the theory of planned behavior was used as the theoretical framework for the study.MethodsData were collected via a survey of 422 college students that included the eHEALS measure and questions about health issues based on the recommendations of the American College Health Association. These questions asked about college student current health, subsequent use of online health resources, and their intention to maintain their health and make use of such resources in the future.ResultseHEALS was positively and significantly associated with all 8 areas of health issues identified by the American College Health Association for college student current maintenance of health and use of online health resources and for future intention of health maintenance and use of online resources. Key issues that emerged with eHealth literacy were maintaining safe sex practices and seeking out related information, seeking out information on an exercise regime, information on vaccinations, and maintaining a balanced diet.ConclusionsThese results suggest several areas that may be targeted for future health campaigns toward college students. In addition, eHEALS was found to be a useful instrument for college students in the United States. Lastly, these results point to a need to deliver targeted information to college students, particularly since eHEALS captures literacy based on positively phrased items.

Digital Healthy Diet Literacy and Self-Perceived Eating Behavior Change during COVID-19 Pandemic among Undergraduate Nursing and Medical Students: A Rapid Online Survey

“…In this study, our findings illustrate that higher scores of health literacy and digital healthy diet literacy were positively associated with healthier eating behavior during the pandemic for both nursing and medical students. College students with higher eHealth literacy engaged better in positive health-promoting behaviors [ 29 , 55 ]. A previous study also showed that higher e-HDL scores were associated with better health status and health-related behaviors in the general population in Taiwan [ 54 ].…”

Association of eHealth Literacy With Lifestyle Behaviors in University Students: Questionnaire-Based Cross-Sectional Study

“…Studies have shown that people with higher eHealth literacy have healthier lifestyles than those with lower eHealth literacy in the general population [ 18 ]. Regarding university students, only a few studies have reported on the association between eHealth literacy and lifestyle behaviors, such as regular exercise, healthy eating, and regular sleep, in Taiwan, Greece, and the United States [ 20 , 22 , 27 ]. However, the numbers of participants in these studies [ 20 , 22 , 27 ] were relatively small.…”

“…Regarding university students, only a few studies have reported on the association between eHealth literacy and lifestyle behaviors, such as regular exercise, healthy eating, and regular sleep, in Taiwan, Greece, and the United States [ 20 , 22 , 27 ]. However, the numbers of participants in these studies [ 20 , 22 , 27 ] were relatively small. Furthermore, the influence of eHealth literacy on lifestyle behavior may vary depending on the country, cultural background, and degree of internet use [ 17 , 19 , 21 ].…”

Use of Internet Health Information Among Students in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Today's culture enhances patients and healthy individuals to play an active role in taking care of their health. Most young adults are able to search electronic sources for health information and to use these for decision making (Stellefson et al, 2011;Stellefeson et al, 2012;Britt et al, 2017;Bakarman, 2017), and internet is becoming a major source of health information for the new generation (Tao, 2017). Several studies examined students' online habits and their use of internet as a source for health information (Osei Asibey, Agyemang, & Boakye Dankwah, 2017;Albarrak et al, 2016;O'Carroll, 2015;Aldebasi & Ahmed, 2013;Schwartz, 2016;Horgan & Sweeney, 2012;Percheski, 2011;Bensley et al, 2014).…”