eHealth Literacy and Trust in Health Information Sources
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Design and Timing
2.2. Study Participants and Sampling
2.3. Sampling Frame and Recruitment
2.4. Sample Size Calculation
2.5. Data Collection Tool
2.5.1. Demographic Variables
2.5.2. Measuring eHealth Literacy
2.5.3. Identifying the Main Source Used for Health Information
2.5.4. Evaluating the Trust in Health Information Sources
2.6. Statistical Analysis
3. Results
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Demographics | n (%) | eHealth Literacy Mean (SD) | Test Statistics | p Value | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
407 | 27.17 (5.98) | ||||
Age | 18–25 | 79 (19.4) | 28.63 (5.99) | r = −0.254 | <0.001 |
26–35 | 99 (24.3) | 28.39 (5.90) | |||
36–45 | 115 (28.3) | 27.57 (4.51) | |||
46–55 | 77 (18.9) | 26.01 (5.86) | |||
56–65 | 34 (8.4) | 22.11 (7.49) | |||
>65 | 3 (0.7) | 20.00 (6.93) | |||
Gender | Male | 220 (54.1) | 26.58 (5.99) | t = −2.160 | 0.031 |
Female | 187 (45.9) | 27.86 (5.85) | |||
Education | High School or Below | 68 (16.7) | 25.18 (5.08) | r = 0.234 | <0.001 |
Diploma | 39 (9.6) | 22.82 (7.71) | |||
Bachelor’s | 244 (59.9) | 28.06 (5.52) | |||
Master’s, PhD | 56 (13.8) | 28.71 (5.71) | |||
Work | Public Sector | 291 (71.5) | 27.18 (5.97) | F (4,402) = 5.51 | <0.001 |
Private Sector | 25 (6.1) | 28.36 (6.59) | |||
Student | 46 (11.3) | 28.34 (5.02) | |||
Retired | 27 (6.6) | 22.56 (6.33) | |||
Not Working | 18 (4.4) | 29.28 (3.43) | |||
Chronic Diseases Status | Yes | 106 (26) | 28.42 (6.22) | t = 2.529 | 0.012 |
No | 301 (74) | 26.73 (5.84) | |||
Currently on Medications | Yes | 138 (33.9) | 28.37 (6.23) | t = 2.944 | 0.003 |
No | 269 (66.1) | 26.55 (5.76) |
Not useful at all | Not useful | Unsure | Useful | Very useful | |
How useful do you find the internet when making decisions about your health? | 36 (8.8%) | 38 (9.3%) | 131 (32.2%) | 175 (43%) | 27 (6.6%) |
Not important at all | Not important | Unsure | Important | Very important | |
How important is it for you to be able to access health resources on the internet? | 40 (9.8%) | 31 (7.6%) | 132 (32.4%) | 179 (44%) | 25 (6.1) |
Mean | SD | ||
---|---|---|---|
1 | I know what health resources are available on the internet. | 3.23 | 0.97 |
2 | I know where to find helpful health resources on the internet. | 3.29 | 1.02 |
3 | I know how to find helpful health resources on the internet. | 3.33 | 0.97 |
4 | I know how to use the internet to answer my questions about health. | 3.54 | 0.86 |
5 | I know how to use the health information I find on the internet to help me. | 3.54 | 0.92 |
6 | I have the skills I need to evaluate the health resources I find on the internet. | 3.47 | 0.92 |
7 | I can tell high-quality health resources from low-quality health resources on the internet. | 3.60 | 0.83 |
8 | I feel confident about using information from the internet to make health decisions. | 2.96 | 1.01 |
Source | Frequency | Percentage |
---|---|---|
Physicians and healthcare workers | 206 | 51.9% |
Family and friends | 32 | 8.1% |
Specialized health websites (Mayo Clinic, altibbi, etc.) | 61 | 15.4% |
Other websites and search engines (not health-specific) | 72 | 18.1% |
Social media (WhatsApp, Instagram, X, etc.) | 26 | 6.5% |
Health Information Source | B | SE | p Value |
---|---|---|---|
Physicians and healthcare workers | 0.864 | 0.460 | 0.061 |
Family and friends | 0.065 | 0.281 | 0.818 |
Specialized health websites | 1.845 | 0.321 | <0.001 |
Other websites and search engines (not health-specific) | 0.291 | 0.055 | 0.241 |
Social media | −0.641 | 0.238 | 0.007 |
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Alhewiti, A. eHealth Literacy and Trust in Health Information Sources. Healthcare 2025, 13, 616. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13060616
Alhewiti A. eHealth Literacy and Trust in Health Information Sources. Healthcare. 2025; 13(6):616. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13060616
Chicago/Turabian StyleAlhewiti, Abdullah. 2025. "eHealth Literacy and Trust in Health Information Sources" Healthcare 13, no. 6: 616. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13060616
APA StyleAlhewiti, A. (2025). eHealth Literacy and Trust in Health Information Sources. Healthcare, 13(6), 616. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13060616