eHealth Literacy and Knowledge of Social Health Financing Among Undergraduate Healthcare Students in Kenya

Elham Aldousari (), Maha Alhajeri and Dennis Kithinji ()
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Elham Aldousari: Department of Health Informatics and Information Management, College of Allied Health Sciences, Kuwait University, Sulaibikhat 90805, Kuwait
Maha Alhajeri: Department of Health Informatics and Information Management, College of Allied Health Sciences, Kuwait University, Sulaibikhat 90805, Kuwait
Dennis Kithinji: Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Meru University of Science and Technology, Meru 60200, Kenya

IJERPH, 2025, vol. 22, issue 10, 1-13

Abstract: Low rates of actively contributing to the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) under the Social Health Authority (SHA) could be due to health insurance knowledge inadequacies, possibly because of poor electronic health (eHealth) literacy. This study assesses whether eHealth literacy is associated with SHA/SHIF knowledge among undergraduate healthcare students in Kenya. An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted using the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS) and an adapted Kaiser Family Foundation quiz. A total of 207 students in mainly six health-related academic programs in 21 institutions of higher learning in Kenya responded to the online survey. Only 54% and 21.7% of the participants had high (median ≥ 4 out of 5) levels of eHealth literacy and knowledge of SHA/SHIF, respectively. About 9.2% of the students had never heard of SHA/SHIF. Only high eHealth literacy compared to low eHealth literacy (OR = 6.2, p < 0.0001) and pursuing nursing, public health, and other programs compared to pursuing Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) (OR = 4.9–5.1, p = 0.01–0.03) significantly predicted SHA/SHIF knowledge. Thus, eHealth literacy levels and SHA/SHIF knowledge require improvement among undergraduate healthcare students in Kenya to prepare them as SHA ambassadors in their communities.

Keywords: health literacy; information literacy; digital media; insurance; health; national health insurance; healthcare financing; students; health occupations; Kenya (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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