Table 2.
Association between internet use patterns and eHealth literacy (n=399).
| Internet use patterns and eHealth literacy | Value, n (%) | P value | ||||
| eHEALSa Low | eHEALS High | |||||
| Frequency of internet use for health-related information | .02 | |||||
|
|
|
Several days a week or more | 62 (44.3) | 78 (55.7) |
|
|
|
|
|
Once a week or less | 146 (56.4) | 113 (43.6) |
|
|
| Types of health-related information searched on the internet | ||||||
|
|
|
Healthy lifestyle | 149 (50.7) | 145 (49.3) | .33 | |
|
|
|
Medication | 69 (52.3) | 63 (47.7) | .97 | |
|
|
|
About a particular disease | 84 (51.5) | 79 (48.5) | .84 | |
|
|
|
Find a care provider or hospital | 26 (52.0) | 24 (48.0) | .98 | |
|
|
|
Peer support forums/other | 12 (26.7) | 29 (73.3) | .004 | |
| Frequency of using internet over the last 12 months for finding people with similar health issues | <.001 | |||||
|
|
|
Often | 43 (20.7) | 76 (39.8) |
|
|
|
|
|
Rarely (less than once a month) | 124 (59.7) | 93 (48.7) |
|
|
|
|
|
Never | 41 (19.7) | 22 (11.5) |
|
|
| Social media platforms used to obtain/share health information or discuss health problems | ||||||
|
|
.91 | |||||
|
|
|
No | 17 (51.5) | 16 (48.5) |
|
|
|
|
|
Yes | 187 (52.5) | 169 (47.5) |
|
|
|
|
.15 | |||||
|
|
|
No | 57 (53.8) | 49 (46.2) |
|
|
|
|
|
Yes | 87 (45.1) | 106 (54.9) |
|
|
|
|
.74 | |||||
|
|
|
No | 106 (49.1) | 110 (50.9) |
|
|
|
|
|
Yes | 18 (46.2) | 21 (53.8) |
|
|
|
|
Wikipedia | .54 | ||||
|
|
|
No | 57 (51.4) | 54 (48.6) |
|
|
|
|
|
Yes | 79 (47.6) | 87 (52.4) |
|
|
|
|
.60 | |||||
|
|
|
No | 81 (50.6) | 79 (49.4) |
|
|
|
|
|
Yes | 56 (47.5) | 62 (52.5) |
|
|
|
|
Others (eg, Reddit) | .51 | ||||
|
|
|
No | 63 (50.8) | 61 (49.2) |
|
|
|
|
|
Yes | 25 (45.5) | 30 (54.5) |
|
|
aeHEALS: eHealth literacy scale.