Health Policy Manag.  2018 Jun;28(2):119-127. 10.4332/KJHPA.2018.28.2.119.

The Associations of Online Health Information Search and eHealth Literacy with Perceived Information Usefulness: Analysis in the Context of Diet and Weight Control

• Shim M
• Jo HS
• Jung SM

• KMID: 2416649
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4332/KJHPA.2018.28.2.119

Abstract

BACKGROUND
This study aimed to examine (1) the patterns of online health information search with respect to seeking and scanning, and (2) how online search, along with eHealth literacy, predicts perceived information usefulness in the context of diet and weight control.
METHODS
Online survey was conducted with 299 adults from the consumer panel recruited for the purpose of quality assessment of the Korean National Health Information Portal in 2016. We conducted paired sample t-test and multiple logistic regression to address the research questions. Data analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics ver. 24.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) and SAS ver. 9.3 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA).
RESULTS
Of the respondents, 38.8% were "˜high seek-high scanners,' 35.8% were "˜low seek-low scanners,' 13.0% were "˜high seek-low scanners,' and 12.4% were "˜low seek-high scanners.' eHealth literacy was a significant, positive predictor of online information scanning (odds ratio [OR], 2.46; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.41-4.29), but not for online information seeking (OR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.00-3.05). With respect to perceived usefulness of online information seeking, online seeking (OR, 4.90; 95% CI, 2.19-11.00) and eHealth literacy (OR, 2.30; 95% CI, 1.11-4.75) were significant predictors. Perceived usefulness of online scanning had a significant association with online scanning (OR, 2.38; 95% CI, 1.08-5.22), but not with eHealth literacy.
CONCLUSION
To increase the effectiveness of the health policy for online information search and related outcomes in the context of diet and weight control, it is important to develop education programs promoting eHealth literacy.

Keyword

Information seeking behavior; Information scanning behavior; eHealth literacy; Perceived information usefulness; Healthy lifestyle; Diet; Weight loss

MeSH Terms

Adult
Diet*
Education
Health Policy
Humans
Information Seeking Behavior
Literacy*
Logistic Models
Statistics as Topic
Surveys and Questionnaires
Telemedicine*
Weight Loss