Digital health literacy: A cross-sectional survey study among patients after hospitalization in Germany

IF 1.4 Q4 HEALTH POLICY & SERVICES

Zeitschrift fur Evidenz Fortbildung und Qualitaet im Gesundheitswesen Pub Date : 2025-03-01 DOI:10.1016/j.zefq.2025.01.004

Matthias Marsall , Matthias Weigl , Dagmar Lüttel , Hardy Müller

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Introduction

Digital transformation in healthcare is both a unique opportunity to improve care services and a significant challenge for legislation, stakeholders and all citizens. eHealth literacy (eHL) describes an important set of competencies when dealing with digital health information. Therefore, health insurance funds in Germany received the mandate to promote eHL among their policy holders. However, to date little is known about eHL in the German population and its potential determinants. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess eHL in a sample of patients after their hospital stay and to explore potential sociodemographic determinants.

Methods

A cross-sectional, self-report, online survey study was conducted with a subgroup of a nationally representative sample in Germany using the revised eHealth Literacy Scale (GR-eHEALS). Market research providers were commissioned with the recruitment and data collection of 1,000 participants. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were computed.

Results

Overall, comparatively high scores were reported for eHealth literacy. Significant differences in eHL were found regarding age, sex, and educational background. Participants aged between 38 and 67 years had significantly higher scores than the under 27-year-olds. Female participants reported higher levels of eHL than male participants. Further, a higher level of educational attainment was related to a higher level of eHL. The native language (German) and the actual employment status were unrelated to eHL.

Discussion

Previous studies showed inconsistent results regarding the potential determinants of eHL. Our results provide further data on eHL in the German population and underscore the importance of age, sex, and education for eHL. Stakeholders such as health insurance funds should therefore pay particular attention to these determinants in order to fulfil their legal mandate to promote eHealth literacy.

Conclusions

Our results provide an assessment of the status quo of eHealth literacy among a subgroup of the general population in Germany, which can inform both legislators and health insurers about important determinants affecting the development and design of technical health products.

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数字健康知识：一项针对德国住院患者的横断面调查研究。

导言：医疗保健领域的数字化转型既是改善医疗服务的独特机遇，也是对立法机构、利益相关者和所有公民的重大挑战。电子健康素养（eHL）描述了处理数字健康信息时的一组重要能力。因此，德国的健康保险基金接受了在其保单持有人中推广eHL的任务。然而，迄今为止，人们对德国人群中的eHL及其潜在的决定因素知之甚少。因此，本研究的目的是评估住院后患者样本中的eHL，并探讨潜在的社会人口统计学决定因素。方法：采用修订后的电子健康素养量表（GR-eHEALS），对德国一个具有全国代表性样本的亚组进行了横断面、自我报告的在线调查研究。委托市场研究提供商招募和收集1000名参与者的数据。计算描述性和双变量分析。结果：总体而言，电子健康素养的得分相对较高。eHL在年龄、性别和教育背景方面存在显著差异。年龄在38岁到67岁之间的参与者得分明显高于27岁以下的参与者。女性参与者报告的eHL水平高于男性参与者。此外，较高的受教育程度与较高的eHL水平相关。母语（德语）和实际就业状况与eHL无关。讨论：先前的研究显示关于eHL的潜在决定因素的结果不一致。我们的研究结果提供了德国人群eHL的进一步数据，并强调了年龄、性别和教育程度对eHL的重要性。因此，健康保险基金等利益攸关方应特别关注这些决定因素，以履行其促进电子卫生知识普及的法律任务。结论：我们的研究结果提供了对德国普通人群中电子健康素养现状的评估，这可以告知立法者和健康保险公司影响技术健康产品开发和设计的重要决定因素。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Zeitschrift fur Evidenz Fortbildung und Qualitaet im Gesundheitswesen HEALTH POLICY & SERVICES-

CiteScore

1.90

自引率

18.20%

发文量

129