Background: eHealth literacy (eHL) is considered an important competency among healthcare providers in healthcare systems, especially following the introduction of information and communication technologies.
Objectives: This study aimed to identify the relationship and direction of factors affecting nursing students' eHL in an online learning environment.
Design: A cross-sectional study.
Settings: Three nursing colleges located in Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon-do in Korea.
Participants: Participants were 259 nursing students aged 18-29 years who lived in the Seoul metropolitan area.
Methods: Self-reported data on variables including attitudes toward online learning, digital literacy, self-efficacy, and eHL, were collected and analyzed using an independent t-test and one-way analysis of variance. The mediating effects were verified through the bootstrapping method using the PROCESS macro for SPSS.
Results: The results indicated that although attitudes toward online learning affected digital literacy, they did not directly influence eHL. Additionally, digital literacy and self-efficacy were also found to be associated with eHL and mediate the relationship between online learning attitudes and eHL.
Conclusions: As online nursing education rapidly becomes commonplace due to the COVID-19 pandemic, attitudes toward online learning, digital literacy, and self-efficacy must be improved to enhance eHL.
Keywords: Attitude; Mediating effect; Nursing students; Online learning; eHealth literacy.
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