EHealth literacy in UK teenagers and young adults: Exploration of predictors and factor structure of the eHealth literacy scale (eHEALS)

Abstract

Background: Increasingly, teenagers and young adults (TYAs) seek out health information online; however, it is not clear whether they possess electronic health (eHealth) literacy, defined as "the ability to select, appraise, and utilize good quality health information from the internet." A number of factors are included in the Lily model proposed by Norman and Skinner underpinning the development of eHealth literacy. It is important to understand which elements may influence the development of eHealth literacy in young people, as the current generation will continue to "Google it" when faced with a health problem throughout their lives. Objective: The objectives of this study are to explore potential factors influencing young people's eHealth literacy and explore the underlying constructs of the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS) in a population of UK university students. Methods: A total of 188 undergraduate psychology students from a large UK University were recruited as an opportunity sample. Of these, 88.8% (167/188) of participants were female with a mean age of 20.13 (SD 2.16) years and the majority were White British (159/188, 84.6%). Employing a cross-sectional design TYAs completed the following measures exploring eHealth literacy (eHEALS): Irrational Health Belief Scale; Newest Vital Sign (NVS), a measure of functional health literacy; Need for Cognition Scale, a preference for effortful cognitive activity; and General Self-Efficacy (GSE) Scale, exploring personal agency and confidence. The eHEALS was also subject to exploratory factor analysis (EFA), for which in addition to the total variance explained, the scree plot, eigenvalues, and factor loadings were assessed to verify the structure. Results: EHEALS and GSE were significantly positively correlated (r=0.28, P