Association of digital health literacy and information-seeking behaviors among physicians during COVID-19 in Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study
Background Universal access to health information is a requirement for all global health strategies in the era of pandemics. Getting health information from the internet is a great concern for the quality of patient healthcare. This study aimed to determine the association between digital health lit...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2023-06-01
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| Series: | Digital Health |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076231180436 |
| _version_ | 1797810784766525440 |
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| author | Bayou Tilahun Assaye Mitiku Kassa Muluken Belachew Sefefe Birhanu Aynadis Worku |
| author_facet | Bayou Tilahun Assaye Mitiku Kassa Muluken Belachew Sefefe Birhanu Aynadis Worku |
| author_sort | Bayou Tilahun Assaye |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background Universal access to health information is a requirement for all global health strategies in the era of pandemics. Getting health information from the internet is a great concern for the quality of patient healthcare. This study aimed to determine the association between digital health literacy and information-seeking behavior among physicians during COVID-19. Methods An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted from December to February 2021 with a total sample size of 423. A pretest was performed among physicians before the actual data collection. After the data collection, the data were checked, cleaned, and exported into STATA v. 14. Descriptive statistics, binary logistic regression, and multivariable logistic regression analysis were applied. Then a 95% CI and a p-value of less than 0.05 were used to declare statistical significance. Results The study revealed that 53.81% of physicians had high digital health literacy and 52.46% had high information-seeking behaviors. Health information-seeking behaviors were determined by digital health literacy, which was 2.25 times more likely than those who had low digital health literacy (AOR = 2.25, 95% CI: [1.11–4.57]). Health-related websites (67.5%) were the most common sources of health information, and 63.30% of physicians find digital health literacy easy or very easy to learn. However, 206 (50.92%) find it difficult or very difficult to decide if the information is reliable, verified, and up-to-date. Internet access (AOR = 1.90, 95% CI: [1.16–3.12]), frequency of searching for information (AOR = 5.35, 95% CI: [2.01–14.29]). All were discovered to be significantly associated with physicians’ health information-seeking behaviors. Conclusions Digital health literacy is a key to seeking health information online for appropriate decision-making. Increasing internet access, and providing ICT training, and integrate it into the health information revolution agendas, helping to disseminate health information and provide timely, reliable, and relevant news and genuine information needed for their work. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T07:14:01Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-84262b1d432a4918aa53915bd62ea655 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2055-2076 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T07:14:01Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Digital Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-84262b1d432a4918aa53915bd62ea6552023-06-05T13:33:58ZengSAGE PublishingDigital Health2055-20762023-06-01910.1177/20552076231180436Association of digital health literacy and information-seeking behaviors among physicians during COVID-19 in Ethiopia: A cross-sectional studyBayou Tilahun AssayeMitiku KassaMuluken BelachewSefefe BirhanuAynadis WorkuBackground Universal access to health information is a requirement for all global health strategies in the era of pandemics. Getting health information from the internet is a great concern for the quality of patient healthcare. This study aimed to determine the association between digital health literacy and information-seeking behavior among physicians during COVID-19. Methods An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted from December to February 2021 with a total sample size of 423. A pretest was performed among physicians before the actual data collection. After the data collection, the data were checked, cleaned, and exported into STATA v. 14. Descriptive statistics, binary logistic regression, and multivariable logistic regression analysis were applied. Then a 95% CI and a p-value of less than 0.05 were used to declare statistical significance. Results The study revealed that 53.81% of physicians had high digital health literacy and 52.46% had high information-seeking behaviors. Health information-seeking behaviors were determined by digital health literacy, which was 2.25 times more likely than those who had low digital health literacy (AOR = 2.25, 95% CI: [1.11–4.57]). Health-related websites (67.5%) were the most common sources of health information, and 63.30% of physicians find digital health literacy easy or very easy to learn. However, 206 (50.92%) find it difficult or very difficult to decide if the information is reliable, verified, and up-to-date. Internet access (AOR = 1.90, 95% CI: [1.16–3.12]), frequency of searching for information (AOR = 5.35, 95% CI: [2.01–14.29]). All were discovered to be significantly associated with physicians’ health information-seeking behaviors. Conclusions Digital health literacy is a key to seeking health information online for appropriate decision-making. Increasing internet access, and providing ICT training, and integrate it into the health information revolution agendas, helping to disseminate health information and provide timely, reliable, and relevant news and genuine information needed for their work.https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076231180436 |
| spellingShingle | Bayou Tilahun Assaye Mitiku Kassa Muluken Belachew Sefefe Birhanu Aynadis Worku Association of digital health literacy and information-seeking behaviors among physicians during COVID-19 in Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study Digital Health |
| title | Association of digital health literacy and information-seeking behaviors among physicians during COVID-19 in Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study |
| title_full | Association of digital health literacy and information-seeking behaviors among physicians during COVID-19 in Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study |
| title_fullStr | Association of digital health literacy and information-seeking behaviors among physicians during COVID-19 in Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Association of digital health literacy and information-seeking behaviors among physicians during COVID-19 in Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study |
| title_short | Association of digital health literacy and information-seeking behaviors among physicians during COVID-19 in Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study |
| title_sort | association of digital health literacy and information seeking behaviors among physicians during covid 19 in ethiopia a cross sectional study |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076231180436 |
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