The Relationship Between eHealth Literacy and Self-Efficacy Levels in Midwifery Students Receiving Distance Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic

BACKGROUND: During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic period, most university courses in Turkey have been taught via distance education. Beyond knowledge of digital technologies, self-efficacy is known to affect the learning motivation and learning goals of students. PURPOSE: This study was conducted to determine the relationship between eHealth literacy and self-efficacy levels in midwifery students receiving distance education during the current COVID-19 pandemic. The research data were collected using a literature-based questionnaire developed by the researchers, the eHealth Literacy Scale for Adolescents, and the Online Technologies Self-Efficacy Scale. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 25.0, with values of p < .05 considered to be significant. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic on a sample of 578 female midwifery students. Snowball sampling method was used for data collection using an online questionnaire. RESULTS: On the basis of the results, eHealth literacy and self-efficacy levels were relatively low in students who were 20 years old or below, who were in their first year, who were from low-income families, who spent less than an hour a day on the Internet, who had a low level of satisfaction with distance education, and who wanted to continue taking theoretical courses via distance education. In addition, self-efficacy related to online technologies was shown to be relatively low in students who found Internet services to be expensive, who had Internet connection problems, and who preferred asynchronous courses. Furthermore, a significant relationship was found between eHealth literacy and self-efficacy levels for online education. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: In the context of distance education, integrating the teaching/promotion of self-efficacy with regard to eHealth literacy and online technologies into midwifery education curriculum should better enable midwives to increase the quality of healthcare they provide and improve patient safety.