Digital Health Literacy on Diabetes Knowledge Among Older Adults in the United States

This study examines the relationship between selected socio-demographics and digital health literacy on diabetes knowledge among older adults in the United States.

Cross-sectional study.

The eHealth Literacy Scale and the Short Diabetes Knowledge Instrument were used. Descriptive statistics, Pearson's r, point-biserial correlation coefficient, Kendall's tau, ANOVA, and Poisson regression were used for data analysis.

The mean age was 71. The mean sum score for digital health literacy was 28.32 (SD = 7.95; range, 8-40), and the mean score for diabetes knowledge was 8.8 (SD = 2.3; range, 2-13). The education level, annual income, number of digital devices, and digital health literacy have a significant relationship with diabetes knowledge. Ethnicity, marital status, living arrangement, and health insurance status significantly correlated with diabetes knowledge.

The findings can be used as preliminary evidence in developing diabetes education and age-friendly interventions for marginalized older adults, allowing better access to digitally formatted health knowledge.

Nurses should be knowledgeable about the impact of digital health literacy on diabetes knowledge for older adults. Nurses and healthcare providers should assess patients' digital literacy levels as part of routine diabetes care and guide the older adults to gain the ability to utilize digital health information resources. Given that diabetes is a chronic illness, older adults should be able to manage it independently, and nurses play a pivotal role in supporting their effective self-care and providing age-tailored health education and interventions.