COVID-19 and Health Information Seeking Behavior: Digital Health Literacy Survey amongst University Students in Pakistan

Rubeena Zakar, Sarosh Iqbal, Muhammad Zakria Zakar and Florian Fischer
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Rubeena Zakar: Department of Public Health, University of the Punjab, Lahore 54590, Pakistan
Sarosh Iqbal: Institute of Social and Cultural Studies, University of the Punjab, Lahore 54590, Pakistan
Muhammad Zakria Zakar: University of Okara, Okara 56300, Pakistan
Florian Fischer: Institute of Public Health, Charité–Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 8, 1-20

Abstract: Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, digital health literacy (DHL) has become a significant public health concern. This research aims to assess information seeking behavior, as well as the ability to find relevant information and deal with DHL among university students in Pakistan. An online-based cross-sectional survey, using a web-based interviewing technique, was conducted to collect data on DHL. Simple bivariate and multivariate linear regression was performed to assess the association of key characteristics with DHL. The results show a high DHL related to COVID-19 in 54.3% of students. Most of the Pakistani students demonstrated ~50% DHL in all dimensions, except for reliability. Multivariate findings showed that gender, sense of coherence and importance of information were found to be significantly associated with DHL. However, a negative association was observed with students? satisfaction with information. This led to the conclusion that critical operational and navigations skills are essential to achieve COVID-19 DHL and cope with stress, particularly to promote both personal and community health. Focused interventions and strategies should be designed to enhance DHL amongst university students to combat the pandemic.

Keywords: eHealth literacy; digital health literacy; sense of coherence; COVID-19; COVID-HL-Q; Pakistan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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