Moderation modelling of COVID-19 digital health literacy and sense of coherence across subjective social class and age among university students in Ghana

Isaac Amoako; Medina Srem-Sai; Frank Quansah; Stephen Anin; Edmond Kwesi Agormedah; John Elvis Hagan Jnr

doi:10.1186/s40359-023-01334-9

Moderation modelling of COVID-19 digital health literacy and sense of coherence across subjective social class and age among university students in Ghana

BMC Psychol. 2023 Oct 16;11(1):337. doi: 10.1186/s40359-023-01334-9.

Authors

Isaac Amoako^{1

2}, Medina Srem-Sai³, Frank Quansah⁴, Stephen Anin⁵, Edmond Kwesi Agormedah⁶, John Elvis Hagan Jnr^{7

8}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Education, Atebubu College of Education, Bono East, Ghana.
² Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, Akenten Appiah-Minka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development, P. O. Box 1277, Kumasi, Ghana.
³ Department of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Sports, University of Education, P. O. Box 25, Winneba, Ghana.
⁴ Department of Educational Foundations, University of Education, P. O. Box 25, Winneba, Ghana.
⁵ Department of Industrial and Health Sciences, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Takoradi Technical University, P.O. Box 256, Takoradi, WS000, Ghana.
⁶ Department of Business & Social Sciences Education, University of Cape Coast, PMB, Cape Coast, Ghana. edmond.agormedah@ucc.edu.gh.
⁷ Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, University of Cape Coast, PMB, Cape Coast, Ghana.
⁸ Neurocognition and Action-Biomechanics-Research Group, Faculty of Psychology and Sports Science, Bielefeld University, Postfach 10 01 31, 33501, Bielefeld, Germany.

Abstract

Background: The study assessed the moderation modelling of digital health literacy and sense of coherence across subjective social class and age among university students in Ghana during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: A total of 1160 students were conveniently sampled from two universities namely, the University of Education, Winneba and University of Cape Coast, using the descriptive cross-sectional survey design. Preliminary analysis was performed using descriptive statistics, whilst multivariate multiple regression and moderation analyses (Haye's Model) were employed to analyze the main data.

Results: The study revealed that COVID-19 digital health literacy is directly and positively associated with sense of coherence among university students. Further, higher subjective social class positively and strongly moderated the relationship between COVID-19 digital health literacy and sense of coherence among university students. Additionally, the relationship between COVID-19 digital health literacy and sense of coherence was indirectly prominent among relatively older university students than younger ones.

Conclusions: The findings have implications for university management/authorities and public health agencies to organize effective orientation and self-management training programmes for university students.

Keywords: Age; Computer literacy; Coping; Coronavirus; Sense of coherence; Subjective social class.

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
Cross-Sectional Studies
Ghana
Health Literacy*
Humans
Pandemics
Sense of Coherence*
Social Class
Students
Universities