Assessing the e-health literacy level and its predictors in heart patients: A Case Study in a Heart Hospital Center in Iran

Nasim Aslani; Ali Garavand; Mina Lazem; Freshteh Davoodi; Heshmatollah Asadi; Pooria Afsharifard

doi:10.4103/jehp.jehp_1763_22

Assessing the e-health literacy level and its predictors in heart patients: A Case Study in a Heart Hospital Center in Iran

J Educ Health Promot. 2024 Jan 22:12:436. doi: 10.4103/jehp.jehp_1763_22. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Nasim Aslani¹, Ali Garavand¹, Mina Lazem², Freshteh Davoodi³, Heshmatollah Asadi⁴, Pooria Afsharifard¹

Affiliations

¹ Social Determinants of Health Research Center, School of Allied Medical Sciences, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran.
² Department of Health Information Management, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
³ Department of Epidemiology, School of Health, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
⁴ Elderly Care Research Center, School of Medicine, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Background: eHealth literacy has many benefits for patients and community members, including the direct impact on improving the quality of patient education and reducing direct and indirect healthcare costs. Benefiting from eHealth literacy in patients with cardiovascular diseases can effectively provide healthcare services and manage these patients. This study aimed to evaluate eHealth literacy level and its factors affecting patients with cardiovascular diseases in a Heart Center Hospital.

Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2022. A valid and reliable questionnaire has been used for data gathering. From 147 distributed questionnaires among patients with cardiovascular diseases at Madani Heart Center Hospital in Khorramabad city, finally, 86 questionnaires have been collected completely. Data analyses were done using IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 22 descriptive and analytical tests such as one-way ANOVA, independent sample t-test, and Spearman correlation coefficient based on the study objectives.

Results: The study showed that heart patients' eHealth literacy status is moderate (3.38 out of 5). The awareness of the availability of resources on the Internet had the highest score (3.79). The importance of using the Internet to obtain health information (r = 0.62, P < 0.001) and the ability to use the Internet (r = 0.62, P < 0.001) had the most significant relationship with eHealth literacy among patients with cardiovascular diseases.

Conclusion: It is suggested that by increasing the level of Internet skills, expanding the use of the Internet for health-related services, using the Internet to make accurate health decisions among patients, extending the use of the Internet to access health resources, and reducing the patient's level of concern about their health status to improve the level of eHealth literacy of cardiovascular patients.

Keywords: Cardiovascular diseases; health literacy; internet.