Validation of the eHEALTH Literacy Scale (Eheals) With Military Service Members

Area of Science:

• Military Health
• Health Informatics
• Health Literacy Measurement

Background:

• Individual medical readiness is crucial for operational effectiveness.
• Electronic Health (eHealth) literacy is key to enhancing medical readiness for service members.
• The internet provides vital health information access for globally dispersed military personnel.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the validity of the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHeals) within an active-duty military population.
• To determine if eHeals can be a tool for commanders and medical teams to evaluate service member health literacy.
• To examine the three-factor structure of the eHEALS measure in this demographic.

Main Methods:

• Confirmatory factorial analysis was employed.
• The study focused on an active-duty military sample.
• The eHealth Literacy Scale (eHeals) was utilized as the assessment tool.

Main Results:

• The study confirmed the validity of the eHEALS measure for electronic health literacy among military service members.
• The findings suggest eHEALS can effectively measure health literacy in this population.
• eHEALS can identify targets for interventions to boost medical readiness.

Conclusions:

• The 6-item eHEALS assessment is a brief, efficient tool for military health and well-being measures.
• It measures knowledge, skills, and confidence in ehealth information use for better healthcare decisions.
• These findings support military modernization efforts and prioritizing personnel for unit effectiveness.