Britt Rebecca Katherine, Collins William Bart, Wilson Kari, Linnemeier Georgiann, Englebert Andrew Mark
Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD, United States.
Brian Lamb School of Communication, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States.
J Med Internet Res. 2017 Dec 19;19(12):e392. doi: 10.2196/jmir.3100.
The 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.
The 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.
Data 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.
eHEALS 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.
These 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.
电子健康素养量表（eHEALS）已被研究人员广泛采用，以了解如何将电子健康素养融入实际情况。鉴于互联网在获取和使用健康信息方面的重要性，电子健康研究人员需要知道如何促进大学生积极的健康行为改变。美国大学健康协会确定了一系列影响当今大学生的关键健康问题。通过了解eHEALS如何与大学生的健康维护及其对在线健康资源的使用相关联，研究人员将能更好地理解电子健康素养及其对健康运动和未来干预措施的实际影响。
本研究的目的是探讨eHEALS揭示了美国大学健康协会确定的大学生健康行为的哪些方面。为了解大学生当前的健康维护情况以及他们维护健康和使用在线资源的意图，计划行为理论被用作本研究的理论框架。
通过对422名大学生进行调查收集数据，该调查包括eHEALS测量以及根据美国大学健康协会的建议提出的有关健康问题的询问。这些问题涉及大学生当前的健康状况、随后对在线健康资源的使用情况，以及他们未来维护健康和利用此类资源的意图。
eHEALS与美国大学健康协会确定的大学生当前健康维护、在线健康资源使用以及未来健康维护和在线资源使用的所有8个健康问题领域均呈显著正相关。与电子健康素养相关的关键问题包括保持安全性行为并寻求相关信息、寻找有关锻炼方式的信息、疫苗接种信息以及保持均衡饮食。
这些结果表明了几个可能针对大学生未来健康运动的领域。此外，发现eHEALS对美国大学生是一种有用的工具。最后，这些结果表明有必要向大学生提供有针对性的信息，特别是因为eHEALS基于积极表述的项目来衡量素养。
