Digital health literacy and online information-seeking behaviour of Lebanese university students

Background This cross-sectional study evaluates digital health literacy (DHL) and web-based information-seeking behaviour of Lebanese university students in light of the coronavirus pandemic and the ‘infodemic'. Methods 18 universities took part in the study. Ethical approval was sought from th...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Bouclaous, C. (author)
Other Authors: Al Kamand, A. (author), Daher, R. (author), AlRazim, A. (author), Haddad, I. (author), Kaedbey, H. D. (author)
Format: article
Published: 2021
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10725/15612
https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckab164.041
http://libraries.lau.edu.lb/research/laur/terms-of-use/articles.php
https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/article/31/Supplement_3/ckab164.041/6405200
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1864513471384649728
author Bouclaous, C.
author2 Al Kamand, A.
Daher, R.
AlRazim, A.
Haddad, I.
Kaedbey, H. D.
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author_facet Bouclaous, C.
Al Kamand, A.
Daher, R.
AlRazim, A.
Haddad, I.
Kaedbey, H. D.
author_role author
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Bouclaous, C.
Al Kamand, A.
Daher, R.
AlRazim, A.
Haddad, I.
Kaedbey, H. D.
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2021
2021-10-20
2024-05-24T07:25:47Z
2024-05-24T07:25:47Z
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv 1101-1262
http://hdl.handle.net/10725/15612
https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckab164.041
Bouclaous, C., Al Kamand, A., Daher, R., Al Razim, A., Haddad, I., & Kaedbey, H. D. (2021). Digital health literacy and online information-seeking behaviour of Lebanese university students. The European Journal of Public Health, 31(Suppl 3).
http://libraries.lau.edu.lb/research/laur/terms-of-use/articles.php
https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/article/31/Supplement_3/ckab164.041/6405200
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv en
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv European Journal of Public Health
dc.rights.*.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Digital health literacy and online information-seeking behaviour of Lebanese university students
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv Article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
description Background This cross-sectional study evaluates digital health literacy (DHL) and web-based information-seeking behaviour of Lebanese university students in light of the coronavirus pandemic and the ‘infodemic'. Methods 18 universities took part in the study. Ethical approval was sought from the ethics committees of the participating universities. Data collection was carried out in May-August 2020. The survey was discontinued due to the devastating explosion that shook Beirut early August. Results A total of 602 students (60.1% females), 20.6 years (±4.3) took part in the study. 54% reported using the Internet to seek for COVID-19 information in the past month. Students in fields other than health and social sciences (HHS), and not using official sources, had limited DHL for information seeking (26.6%). Lebanese students, at undergraduate level, with a health impairment, and not using official sources and news portals had limited DHL for adding self-generated content (35.9%). Students at undergraduate level, who used social media for information, had limited DHL for evaluating reliability (42.7%). Non-HHS, with a health impairment, and not using official sources had limited DHL for determining relevance (32.0%). Graduate students had higher odds of having sufficient DHL for adding self-generated content (OR = 2.304; 95% CI = 1.076, 4.937) and evaluating reliability (OR = 2.440; 95% CI = 1.171, 5.087). Frequent users of official sources had higher odds (OR = 1.684; 95% CI = 1.065, 2.665) of having sufficient DHL for adding self-generated content. Those who regularly used social media for information had lower odds (OR = 0.577; 95% CI = 0.351, 0.946) regarding evaluating reliability. Conclusions Health education programmes in Lebanon need to strengthen digital health literacy in university students, particularly in undergraduates, in fields other than health and social sciences, in those relying on social media, and those with a health impairment.
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
format article
id LAURepo_c00a1999d5374d09f2a214c5ff580469
identifier_str_mv 1101-1262
Bouclaous, C., Al Kamand, A., Daher, R., Al Razim, A., Haddad, I., & Kaedbey, H. D. (2021). Digital health literacy and online information-seeking behaviour of Lebanese university students. The European Journal of Public Health, 31(Suppl 3).
language_invalid_str_mv en
network_acronym_str LAURepo
network_name_str Lebanese American University repository
oai_identifier_str oai:laur.lau.edu.lb:10725/15612
publishDate 2021
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository_id_str
spelling Digital health literacy and online information-seeking behaviour of Lebanese university studentsBouclaous, C.Al Kamand, A.Daher, R.AlRazim, A.Haddad, I.Kaedbey, H. D.Background This cross-sectional study evaluates digital health literacy (DHL) and web-based information-seeking behaviour of Lebanese university students in light of the coronavirus pandemic and the ‘infodemic'. Methods 18 universities took part in the study. Ethical approval was sought from the ethics committees of the participating universities. Data collection was carried out in May-August 2020. The survey was discontinued due to the devastating explosion that shook Beirut early August. Results A total of 602 students (60.1% females), 20.6 years (±4.3) took part in the study. 54% reported using the Internet to seek for COVID-19 information in the past month. Students in fields other than health and social sciences (HHS), and not using official sources, had limited DHL for information seeking (26.6%). Lebanese students, at undergraduate level, with a health impairment, and not using official sources and news portals had limited DHL for adding self-generated content (35.9%). Students at undergraduate level, who used social media for information, had limited DHL for evaluating reliability (42.7%). Non-HHS, with a health impairment, and not using official sources had limited DHL for determining relevance (32.0%). Graduate students had higher odds of having sufficient DHL for adding self-generated content (OR = 2.304; 95% CI = 1.076, 4.937) and evaluating reliability (OR = 2.440; 95% CI = 1.171, 5.087). Frequent users of official sources had higher odds (OR = 1.684; 95% CI = 1.065, 2.665) of having sufficient DHL for adding self-generated content. Those who regularly used social media for information had lower odds (OR = 0.577; 95% CI = 0.351, 0.946) regarding evaluating reliability. Conclusions Health education programmes in Lebanon need to strengthen digital health literacy in university students, particularly in undergraduates, in fields other than health and social sciences, in those relying on social media, and those with a health impairment.Published2024-05-24T07:25:47Z2024-05-24T07:25:47Z20212021-10-20Articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/article1101-1262http://hdl.handle.net/10725/15612https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckab164.041Bouclaous, C., Al Kamand, A., Daher, R., Al Razim, A., Haddad, I., & Kaedbey, H. D. (2021). Digital health literacy and online information-seeking behaviour of Lebanese university students. The European Journal of Public Health, 31(Suppl 3).http://libraries.lau.edu.lb/research/laur/terms-of-use/articles.phphttps://academic.oup.com/eurpub/article/31/Supplement_3/ckab164.041/6405200enEuropean Journal of Public Healthinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:laur.lau.edu.lb:10725/156122024-06-11T11:23:14Z
spellingShingle Digital health literacy and online information-seeking behaviour of Lebanese university students
Bouclaous, C.
status_str publishedVersion
title Digital health literacy and online information-seeking behaviour of Lebanese university students
title_full Digital health literacy and online information-seeking behaviour of Lebanese university students
title_fullStr Digital health literacy and online information-seeking behaviour of Lebanese university students
title_full_unstemmed Digital health literacy and online information-seeking behaviour of Lebanese university students
title_short Digital health literacy and online information-seeking behaviour of Lebanese university students
title_sort Digital health literacy and online information-seeking behaviour of Lebanese university students
url http://hdl.handle.net/10725/15612
https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckab164.041
http://libraries.lau.edu.lb/research/laur/terms-of-use/articles.php
https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/article/31/Supplement_3/ckab164.041/6405200