Moretti Valentina, Brunelli Laura, Conte Alessandro, Valdi Giulia, Guelfi Maria Renza, Masoni Marco, Anelli Filippo, Arnoldo Luca
Dipartimento di Area Medica, Università degli Studi di Udine, Udine, Italy.
Accreditamento, Qualità e Rischio Clinico, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale, Udine, Italy.
JMIR Med Educ. 2023 Apr 18;9:e38377. doi: 10.2196/38377.
The COVID-19 pandemic was accompanied by the spread of uncontrolled health information and fake news, which also quickly became an infodemic. Emergency communication is a challenge for public health institutions to engage the public during disease outbreaks. Health professionals need a high level of digital health literacy (DHL) to cope with difficulties; therefore, efforts should be made to address this issue starting from undergraduate medical students.
The aim of this study was to investigate the DHL skills of Italian medical students and the effectiveness of an informatics course offered by the University of Florence (Italy). This course focuses on assessing the quality of medical information using the "dottoremaeveroche" (DMEVC) web resource offered by the Italian National Federation of Orders of Surgeons and Dentists, and on health information management.
A pre-post study was conducted at the University of Florence between November and December 2020. First-year medical students participated in a web-based survey before and after attending the informatics course. The DHL level was self-assessed using the eHealth Literacy Scale for Italy (IT-eHEALS) tool and questions about the features and quality of the resources. All responses were rated on a 5-point Likert scale. Change in the perception of skills was assessed using the Wilcoxon test.
A total of 341 students participated in the survey at the beginning of the informatics course (women: n=211, 61.9%; mean age 19.8, SD 2.0) and 217 of them (64.2%) completed the survey at the end of the course. At the first assessment, the DHL level was moderate, with a mean total score of the IT-eHEALS of 2.9 (SD 0.9). Students felt confident about finding health-related information on the internet (mean score of 3.4, SD 1.1), whereas they doubted the usefulness of the information they received (mean score of 2.0, SD 1.0). All scores improved significantly in the second assessment. The overall mean score of the IT-eHEALS significantly increased (P<.001) to 4.2 (SD 0.6). The item with the highest score related to recognizing the quality of health information (mean score of 4.5, SD 0.7), whereas confidence in the practical application of the information received remained the lowest (mean of 3.7, SD 1.1) despite improvement. Almost all students (94.5%) valued the DMEVC as an educational tool.
The DMEVC tool was effective in improving medical students' DHL skills. Effective tools and resources such as the DMEVC website should be used in public health communication to facilitate access to validated evidence and understanding of health recommendations.
新冠疫情伴随着未经控制的健康信息和假新闻的传播，这很快也演变成了一场信息疫情。应急沟通是公共卫生机构在疾病爆发期间与公众互动的一项挑战。卫生专业人员需要高水平的数字健康素养（DHL）来应对困难；因此，应从本科医学生开始努力解决这一问题。
本研究旨在调查意大利医学生的数字健康素养技能以及意大利佛罗伦萨大学提供的一门信息学课程的效果。该课程重点在于使用意大利国家外科医生和牙医协会提供的“dottoremaeveroche”（DMEVC）网络资源评估医学信息的质量以及健康信息管理。
2020年11月至12月在佛罗伦萨大学进行了一项前后对照研究。一年级医学生在参加信息学课程前后参与了一项基于网络的调查。使用意大利电子健康素养量表（IT-eHEALS）工具以及关于资源特征和质量的问题对数字健康素养水平进行自我评估。所有回答采用5分李克特量表评分。使用威尔科克森检验评估技能认知的变化。
共有341名学生在信息学课程开始时参与了调查（女性：n = 211，61.9%；平均年龄19.8岁，标准差2.0），其中217名（64.2%）在课程结束时完成了调查。在首次评估时，数字健康素养水平中等，IT-eHEALS的平均总分是2.9（标准差0.9）。学生们对在互联网上查找健康相关信息有信心（平均得分3.4，标准差1.1），而他们对所收到信息的有用性表示怀疑（平均得分2.0，标准差1.0）。在第二次评估中所有分数均显著提高。IT-eHEALS的总体平均得分显著增加（P <.001）至4.2（标准差0.6）。得分最高的项目与识别健康信息质量有关（平均得分4.5，标准差0.7），而尽管有所提高，但对所收到信息实际应用的信心仍然最低（平均得分3.7，标准差1.1）。几乎所有学生（94.5%）都认为DMEVC是一种教育工具。
DMEVC工具在提高医学生的数字健康素养技能方面是有效的。应在公共卫生沟通中使用DMEVC网站等有效工具和资源，以促进获取经过验证的证据并理解健康建议。
