Assessing secondary school students’ digital health literacy, information searching behaviours, and satisfaction with online COVID-19 information in Northern Ghana
Sambah, Francis, Quansah, Frank, Srem-Sai, Medina, Frimpong, James Boadu, Agormedah, Edmond Kwesi, Ankomah, Francis, and Hagan, John Elvis (2023) Assessing secondary school students’ digital health literacy, information searching behaviours, and satisfaction with online COVID-19 information in Northern Ghana. Heliyon, 9 (7). e17936.
|
PDF (Published Version)
- Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (920kB) | Preview |
Abstract
Available evidence suggests that managing the complexities of health information and the behaviours associated with information search call for adequate digital health literacy (DHL). Students’ ability to judge the relevance of health-related information largely affects their level of satisfaction with the information. The study assessed DHL, information searching behaviours, and the link between DHL and COVID-19 information. The cross-sectional study utilised the multi-stage sampling technique in the selection of 1392 secondary school students in the Northern Region of Ghana. A DHL questionnaire was used to survey the students. The students displayed inadequate level of DHL concerning the relevance of online information. Predictably, most of them had not searched for information in the past four weeks prior to the data collection. Search engine portals, websites of public bodies, and news portals were the predominant platforms used for information search. Majority of the participants reported not being satisfied with the information they found on the internet about coronavirus. A significant association between DHL levels and utilization of COVID-19 information platforms was identified, such that students who showed high levels of DHL used platforms which had reviewed/professional content compared to those with low levels of DHL. Advanced DHL may serve as a disincentive to the consumption of information from sources which are not credible. There is an urgent call for collaboration among the ministries/agencies responsible for education and health, telecommunication networks, and civil society organisations for interventions aimed at integrating DHL in schools.
Item ID: | 79487 |
---|---|
Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
ISSN: | 2405-8440 |
Keywords: | COVID-19 information, Digital health literacy, Health information platforms, Infodemic, Satisfaction, Students |
Copyright Information: | © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
Date Deposited: | 16 Jan 2024 06:01 |
FoR Codes: | 42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4206 Public health > 420606 Social determinants of health @ 100% |
SEO Codes: | 20 HEALTH > 2004 Public health (excl. specific population health) > 200401 Behaviour and health @ 100% |
Downloads: |
Total: 95 Last 12 Months: 5 |
More Statistics |