eHealth literacy research—Quo vadis?

Abstract

The concept of electronic health (eHealth) literacy evolved from the social and information sciences and describes competencies necessary to use electronic health services. As it is a rather new topic, and as there is no current overview of the state of the art in research, it is not possible to identify research gaps. Therefore, the objective of this viewpoint article is to increase knowledge on the current state of the art of research in eHealth literacy and to identify gaps in scientific research which should be focused on by the research community in the future. The article provides a current viewpoint of the concept of eHealth literacy and related research. Gaps can be found in terms of a missing "gold standard" regarding both the definition and the measurement of eHealth literacy. Furthermore, there is a need for identifying the implications on eHealth developers, which evolve from the measurement of eHealth literacy in eHealth users. Finally, a stronger inclusion of health professionals, both in the evolving concept and in the measurement of eHealth literacy, is needed in the future.

Measures of eHealth Literacy: Options for the Malaysian Population

“…In a review of developments in eHealth literacy, Griebel et al (2017) criticised existing models as being constructed in isolation of one another. Paige et al (2018) disagrees with this opinion, suggesting that newer models of eHealth literacy have been building on older measures and making improvements in line with the changing digital environment.…”

Health Care Professionals’ Perceptions of Home Telemonitoring in Heart Failure Care: Cross-Sectional Survey (Preprint)

“…A deficient eHealth literacy may exclude certain persons from the potential advantages of eHealth services [36]. Future research in e-health literacy is challenged to include the viewpoints of HCPs [36].…”

“…A deficient eHealth literacy may exclude certain persons from the potential advantages of eHealth services [36]. Future research in e-health literacy is challenged to include the viewpoints of HCPs [36]. HCPs competence and acceptance of the relevance of RTM is vital for successful implementation in the clinical setting [32].…”

Die Rolle des Internets für Gesundheitsinformationen in der Hals-Nasen-Ohrenheilkunde

“…According to Norman and Skinner, eHealth literacy encompasses 6 components in two sections of skills: reading/calculating, information literacy, and media literacy as analytic skills as well as (analogue) health literacy, IT knowledge, and basic scientific knowledge as context-specific skills [174]. It is still not fully clear how eHealth literacy should be assessed and which consequences will result for the development and the implementation of digital applications in healthcare services [175].…”