The Relationship Between Students' E-Health Literacy and General Health in a Military University of Medical Sciences

Electronic health literacy is a combination of skills in terms of health, information, science, computer, and internet. Improving students' scientific and practical abilities and promoting their academic achievement require good general health.

The present study aimed at assessing the relationship between e-health literacy and general health of students of Aja University of Medical Sciences in 2018.

The present cross sectional, descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 305 students of Aja University of Medical Sciences in 2018 enrolled with convenience sampling. Data collection tools included demographic questionnaire, e-health literacy scale (e-Heals), and general health questionnaire (GHQ-28). The relationship between variables was assessed using Spearman correlation test, and groups were compared using the Mann-Whitney U and the Kruskal-Wallis tests. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 23 and P <0.05 was considered significant.

A total of 305 questionnaires were analyzed. Students' mean score of e-health literacy was 28.15±5.9, and that of general health was 27.24±16.67. According to GHQ-28, a lower score indicates better general health; a significant and inverse correlation was observed between students' e-health literacy and general health (r= -0.139, P=0.015). E-health literacy had no significant relationship with the subscales of physical status, anxiety, insomnia, and social dysfunction, but it had a significant and inverse relationship with the subscale of depression (r= -0.198, P=0.001).
Discussion and

Better general health was associated with higher e-health literacy. This relationship affects general health improvement and it seems that taking measures to promote e-health literacy improves general health in students. Further studies are recommended to examine how these factors affect one another.