A Comprehensive Analysis of E-Health Literacy Research Focuses and Trends

Healthcare (Basel). 2021 Dec 30;10(1):66. doi: 10.3390/healthcare10010066.

Abstract

Objective: To sort out the research focuses in the field of e-health literacy, analyze its research topics and development trends, and provide a reference for relevant research in this field in the future.

Methods: The literature search yielded a total of 431 articles retrieved from the core dataset of Web of Science using the keywords "ehealth literacy", "E-health literacy" and "electronic health literacy". A bibliometric analysis was performed by using CiteSpace to explore the development history, hot themes, and trends of future research in the field of e-health literacy.

Results: The thematic evolution path in e-health literacy was divided into three stages. The research focuses were inspected from four aspects: evaluation, correlation with health-promotion behaviors, influencing factors, and intervention measures for improvement.

Conclusion: E-health literacy research faces challenges such as the development of the connotation of the term, the objectivity of evaluation methods, and the long-term impact of interventions. Future research themes in e-health literacy will include the standardization of evaluation instruments and the individualization of therapeutic strategies.

Keywords: E-health literacy; bibliometric; development trend; research focuses; thematic evolution; visualization.