Gender Differences in Accuracy of Self-assessed Digital and eHealth Literacy among Older Adults in Israel

• In Event: 579 - Section on Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 03. Literacies

Abstract

Background: The use of the Internet for health purposes is more beneficial or advantageous for some Internet users than for others. However, various skills known as eHealth literacy are required, in order to attain optimal benefits from these resources. Despite the high internal consistency of the eHEALTH scale, findings suggest that the internal validity of the instrument requires further study.
Objective: To study the digital and eHealth literacy of older adults and to assess the internal consistency and the predictive validity of a Hebrew version of the eHEALS and digital literacy scales.
Methods: A sample of 69 Israeli older adults, answered a telephone survey, using the translated version of the eHEALS scale. In phase 2, participants carried out an actual performance test, comprised of 15 assignments.
Results: Findings indicated sufficient internal consistency of the Hebrew version of the eHEALS scale. Correlations between perceived and actual digital literacy, and between the eHEALS scale and the completed tasks on the actual performance test was moderate and significant, eHEALS and age and education correlations were moderate and significant. There were significant differences in eHEALS scores between participants who scored below and above the median scores of the overall performance test. Women, as compared to men, are more accurate in assessing their digital and eHealth literacies.
Conclusions: The significant correlation between perceived and actual eHealth literacy can be attributed to older adults' relatively accurate judgements of their performance level. Thus, further research is needed to test the self-reported instrument validity amongst younger users.

Author

• Esther Brainin, Ruppin Academic Center Israel