Learning health literacy via online learning system among university students In Hong Kong

Abstract

Introduction : Health knowledge is needed by students from all disciplines. Being the consumers in health care system, university students should be trained with the skills to understand and critically evaluate the health information. An e-health literacy online learning platform was set up to train university students the essential skills in online health information searching and critically evaluating the reliability of the sources of health information.This study reported the participants’ performance before and after the online learning, and their reflection of their learning experience. Method : A randomized controlled trial design. A 8-item e-health literacy scale was used. Results : A total of 117 students were recruited, 88 students completed all the activities in the project. 43 students were randomized to intervention group (IG) and 45 to control group (CG). E-health literacy level of all students increased from pre-intervention mean (SD) = 24.13 (6.26) to post-intervention mean (SD) = 29.58 (4.61) (p<0.002); however there was no significant difference between IG and CG (p=0.284). However, student indicated that this online training was useful and they learnt how to engage in online searching for health knowledge (mean (SD) = 3.74 (1.12) and learnt to think more critically (mean (SD) = 3.19(0.85). Conclusion : E-health literacy level of the participants increased significantly after their online learning. However there was no significant difference between IG and CG. Future study in e-health literacy is warrant. Keywords : e-health literacy, online health information, Chinese,