eHealth Literacy of Australian Undergraduate Health Profession Students: A Descriptive Study

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Health Professions Education
• eHealth Literacy

Background:

• The rapid expansion of digital health technologies necessitates enhanced eHealth literacy among healthcare professionals.
• Preparing future health professionals in digital health is vital for delivering safe and high-quality patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the eHealth literacy of undergraduate health profession students.
• To inform the development of university curricula for improved work-readiness in digital health environments.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 610 undergraduate health profession students at an Australian university.
• The seven-domain eHealth Literacy Questionnaire (eHLQ) was utilized to measure eHealth literacy.
• Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and ANOVA were employed to analyze differences in eHLQ scores across sociodemographic variables.

Main Results:

• Students demonstrated strong knowledge of health information (Scale 2) but expressed significant concerns regarding the security of online health data (Scale 4).
• Younger students reported higher eHealth literacy scores across all seven eHLQ domains compared to older students.
• Significant differences in eHLQ scores were observed based on age and digital device ownership.

Conclusions:

• eHealth literacy varies among health profession students, with younger students generally exhibiting higher proficiency.
• University curricula should integrate digital health skills, focusing on practical applications and addressing privacy/security concerns.
• Proactive preparation is recommended to bridge the digital divide in health and social care settings.