School of Health Sciences.
School of Social and Behavioral Sciences.
Health Promot Int. 2021 Aug 30;36(4):1020-1028. doi: 10.1093/heapro/daaa116.
Mental health issues, such as depression, are rising among young people, who may benefit from online depression-related information. However, the competencies required to search for health information on the Internet and evaluate it before use may be poor among this population. This research aimed to investigate how college students use the Internet for solving problems in realistic case scenarios relevant to depression and to understand whether various literature-indicated literacies and factors may predict effective utilization of relevant online resources. We designed a web-based questionnaire survey including four depression-related case scenarios. A total of 218 undergraduate students who were enrolled in a Northeastern public US university were invited to participate in the survey in 2016, with 192 completed responses being included in this analysis (response rate = 88%; the participants' median age = 20; 79% female). Approximately half of the participants (47%) answered the depression-related questions in the case scenarios with 90% or higher accuracy. In a multiple linear regression model, prior depression knowledge and eHealth information literacy significantly predicted the effective use of online depression information. However, medical literacy and critical health literacy were not significant predictors. A few additional demographic and experience related factors were positively associated with the effective Internet use (e.g. female, non-Hispanic, psychology or health science major and prior experience with depression). These findings identify a need for college students to develop domain-specific knowledge and literacies in order to facilitate effective use of online information about depression.
心理健康问题，如抑郁症，在年轻人中呈上升趋势，他们可能会受益于与抑郁相关的在线信息。然而，这群人在互联网上搜索健康信息并在使用前对其进行评估的能力可能较差。本研究旨在调查大学生如何利用互联网解决与抑郁相关的现实案例中的问题，并了解各种文献中指出的素养和因素是否可以预测对相关在线资源的有效利用。我们设计了一个基于网络的问卷调查，包括四个与抑郁相关的案例场景。2016 年，共邀请了 218 名在美国东北部公立大学就读的本科生参加调查，其中 192 名完成了调查（应答率=88%；参与者的中位数年龄为 20 岁；79%为女性）。大约一半的参与者（47%）以 90%或更高的准确率回答了案例场景中的抑郁相关问题。在多元线性回归模型中，先前的抑郁知识和电子健康信息素养显著预测了对在线抑郁信息的有效利用。然而，医学素养和批判性健康素养不是显著的预测因素。一些额外的人口统计学和经验相关因素与有效利用互联网呈正相关（例如，女性、非西班牙裔、心理学或健康科学专业以及有抑郁经历）。这些发现表明，大学生需要发展特定领域的知识和素养，以便能够有效地利用关于抑郁的在线信息。
