Kevin Dadaczynski|Orkan Okan|Melanie Messer|Angela Yee Man Leung|Rafaela Rosário|Emily Darlington|Katharina Rathmann
Digital Health Literacy and Web-Based Information-Seeking Behaviors of University Students in Germany During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-sectional Survey Study
Fulda University of Applied Sciences|Leuphana University of Lüneburg|Bielefeld University|University of Applied Sciences Appollon|Hochschule Bremen|Hong Kong Polytechnic University|University of Minho|Claude Bernard University Lyon 1|Fulda University of Applied Sciences
background digital communication technologies playing important role health communication strategies governments public health authorities covid19 pandemic internet social media become important sources healthrelated information covid19 protective behaviors addition covid19 infodemic spreading faster coronavirus interferes governmental healthrelated communication efforts jeopardizes national public health containment strategies therefore digital health literacy key competence navigate webbased covid19related information service environments objective study aimed investigate university students digital health literacy webbased informationseeking behaviors early stages covid19 pandemic germany methods crosssectional study among 14916 university students aged 18 years 130 universities across 16 federal states germany conducted using webbased survey along sociodemographic characteristics sex age subjective social status measures included five subscales digital health literacy instrument dhli adapted specific context covid19 pandemic webbased informationseeking behavior investigated examining webbased sources used university students topics students searched connection covid19 data analyzed using univariate bivariate analyses results across digital health literacy dimensions greatest difficulties could found assessing reliability healthrelated information 596414103 423 ability determine whether information written commercial interest 548914097 389 moreover respondents indicated frequently problems finding information looking 428214098 304 stratified according sociodemographic characteristics significant differences found female university students reporting lower dhli dimensions information searching evaluating reliability search engines news portals websites public bodies often used respondents sources search information covid19 related issues female students found use social media health portals frequently male students used wikipedia webbased encyclopedias well youtube often use social media associated low ability critically evaluate information opposite observed use public websites conclusions although digital health literacy well developed university students significant proportion students still face difficulties certain abilities evaluate information need strengthen digital health literacy capacities university students using tailored interventions improving quality healthrelated information internet also key