Everyday Digital Literacy Questionnaire for Older Adults: Instrument Development and Validation Study

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Digital Health
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Increasing digitalization necessitates digital literacy in aging populations.
• Digital literacy encompasses identifying, evaluating, and communicating information via digital devices.
• Existing measures may not adequately assess digital literacy in older adults.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop the Everyday Digital Literacy Questionnaire (EDLQ).
• To evaluate the psychometric properties of the EDLQ in community-dwelling older adults in South Korea.

Main Methods:

• Instrument development design with a nationwide survey of 1016 older adults (≥60 years).
• Psychometric evaluation included internal consistency (Cronbach α, McDonald ω), structural validity (EFA, CFA), construct validity (eHEALS correlation), and measurement invariance.
• Participants were randomly assigned to two groups for validation analyses.

Main Results:

• A 22-item EDLQ with a 3-factor solution ('information and communication', 'content creation and management', 'safety and security') demonstrated 77% total explained variance.
• Confirmatory factor analysis yielded excellent fit indices (e.g., CFI=0.997, RMSEA=0.036).
• The EDLQ showed high reliability (Cronbach α = 0.98, McDonald ω = 0.98), strong construct validity (r=0.75 with eHEALS), and satisfactory measurement invariance.

Conclusions:

• The 22-item EDLQ is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing digital literacy in older Korean adults.
• Further research is needed to assess the EDLQ's cross-cultural and multilingual applicability.
• The EDLQ can inform the development of targeted digital literacy interventions and personalized digital health services for seniors.