Electronic health–literacy skills among nursing students

BACKGROUND: The Internet has become a major source of health-related information. In order to provide better health services and health-care education to society, nurses should have acceptable electronic health (eHealth) literacy. OBJECTIVE: The main aim was to measure eHealth-literacy skills among nursing students of Kathmandu Medical College Teaching Hospital, Nepal. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 152 Bachelor of Science nursing students at the hospital. Data were collected using the self-administered eHealth Literacy Scale. This is an eight-item tool that is assessed on 5-point likert scale to measure consumers’ perceived skills at finding, evaluating, and applying eHealth information to health problems. Demographical and personal variables were collected to explore their relationship with eHealth literacy. RESULTS: A total of 152 nursing students with mean age of 19.84±1.62 years participated in the study. While 44.7% perceived that they had average Internet skills, 65.1% found the Internet useful in helping them make decisions about their health. Nursing students had a moderate self-perceived level of eHealth literacy (median 3.69, IQR 0.87). Related factors included students’ Internet skills, frequency of using the Internet for health related purposes, and self-perception of the usefulness and importance of the Internet. CONCLUSION: This study represents a baseline reference for eHealth literacy among nursing students. Students have some basic necessary skills, while other skills still need to be improved. There is a need to pay attention to eHealth-literacy needs of nursing students.