Role of eHealth Literacy in Exploring Attitude Towards the Covid-19 Vaccine

Searching for health information online no longer attracts scientific attention, and eHealth literacy skills can influence health behaviors in the general population. This study aimed to assess the role of eHealth literacy on attitude towards Covid-19 Vaccine during the pandemic period. Between 1 April 2021 and 1 July 2021, a single-center descriptive cross-sectional study including 422 participants was conducted face-to-face in the vaccine clinics of a pandemic hospital in Istanbul. The eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS) was used to determine the health promotion skills of the participants and to use the resources to protect their health. Attitudes towards the Covid-19 vaccine scale score, approaches and biases towards the Covid-19 vaccine were evaluated. Data were analyzed with the NCSS 10 (2015 Kaysville, USA) program. The eHealth literacy level of participants aged 30.89±8.54 years was positively related to the attitude towards Covid-19 Vaccine (r=0.151, p=0.002). The averages of eHEALS and attitude toward Covid-19 Vaccine scale scores were 3.65±0.81 out of 5 (73.0%) and 2.99±0.82 points, respectively. An eHealth literacy of about twice as high as men was observed in women (OR: 1,663, 95% CI = 1,088-2,540; P=0.019). University graduation was observed to be 7.7 times more effective in providing a better level of eHealth literacy (OR: 7.736, 95% CI = 3.284-18.224; p<0.001). Participants with higher eHealth literacy demonstrated a 2.2-fold better attitude score towards the Covid-19 Vaccine (OR: 2,222, 95% CI = 1,270-3,887; p=0.005).  An increase in the level of an individual’s eHealth literacy translates to a more positive attitude toward vaccines.