Nurses' ehealth literacy and associations with the nursing practice environment

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Health Informatics
• Digital Health

Background:

• Nurses increasingly rely on digital technologies for health information and self-management.
• While ehealth literacy is vital for health outcomes, its determinants among direct-care nurses remain under-explored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess ehealth literacy levels among nurses in Greece.
• To investigate the relationship between nurses' ehealth literacy and their practice environment.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 200 nurses and nursing assistants in Greece.
• Utilized self-administered questionnaires including the electronic Health Literacy Scale (eHEALS) and the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI).
• Employed logistic regression analyses to explore associations.

Main Results:

• Higher scores in nurse-physician relationships and nurse participation in hospital affairs were associated with better ehealth literacy.
• Nurses reported lower confidence in using internet information for health decisions.
• Overall ehealth literacy scores were higher compared to other studies.

Conclusions:

• Positive associations exist between specific aspects of the hospital practice environment and nurses' ehealth literacy.
• Despite higher scores, nurses' ability to discern reliable online health information is a significant concern for evidence-based practice.
• Recommendations include integrating ehealth literacy into nursing education and improving the clinical work environment.