Electronic health–literacy skills among nursing students

Abstract

Background: The Internet has become a major source of health-related information. In order to provide better health services and health-care education to society, nurses should have acceptable electronic health (eHealth) literacy. Objective: The main aim was to measure eHealth-literacy skills among nursing students of Kathmandu Medical College Teaching Hospital, Nepal. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 152 Bachelor of Science nursing students at the hospital. Data were collected using the self-administered eHealth Literacy Scale. This is an eight-item tool that is assessed on 5-point likert scale to measure con-sumers’ perceived skills at finding, evaluating, and applying eHealth information to health problems. Demographical and personal variables were collected to explore their relationship with eHealth literacy. Results: A total of 152 nursing students with mean age of 19.84±1.62 years participated in the study. While 44.7% perceived that they had average Internet skills, 65.1% found the Internet useful in helping them make decisions about their health. Nursing students had a moderate self-perceived level of eHealth literacy (median 3.69, IQR 0.87). Related factors included students’ Internet skills, frequency of using the Internet for health related purposes, and self-perception of the usefulness and importance of the Internet. Conclusion: This study represents a baseline reference for eHealth literacy among nursing students. Students have some basic necessary skills, while other skills still need to be improved. There is a need to pay attention to eHealth-literacy needs of nursing students.