Digital health literacy skills in the post COVID-19 pandemic and its related factors in students of Sichuan Vocational College of Health and Rehabilitation

Abstract

Digital health literacy (DHL) is the ability to identify, understand, and use health information from digital sources. The differences in DHL levels among individuals are due to many factors. Thus, this study investigated DHL and its associated factors among vocational college medical students in Sichuan, China, after the COVID-19 pandemic. This mixed-method study in which we integrate both quantitative and qualitative studies with included 1062 students. The demographic data were gathered. A DHL questionnaire was administered and the health information seeking was rated. A multivariate logistic regression was performed to evaluate how different factors influenced DHL. Among the participants, 52.26% had high DHL levels. Age (ORadj = 0.83), study of year [sophomore (ORadj = 2.68), junior (ORadj = 1.82)], major [nursing (ORadj = 0.63), major (rehabilitation (ORadj = 0.64), medicine and food or education and sports (ORadj =0.60)], having had a family member or friend infected with COVID-19 (ORadj = 1.64), health education (ORadj = 2.00), and health information seeking (ORadj = 2.33) influenced the participants’ DHL. This study’s findings indicate that the DHL level of some vocational college medical students is still low. Therefore, improving these skills requires teaching strategies and a curriculum that encourages students to locate and evaluate digital sources.

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