BACKGROUND
Amid to the COVID-19 pandemic, digital health literacy (DHL) has become a significant public health concern.
OBJECTIVE
This research aims to assess information seeking behavior, as well as the ability to find relevant information and deal with DHL among university students in Pakistan.
METHODS
An online-based cross-sectional survey, using a web-based interviewing technique, was conducted to collect data on DHL. Simple bivariate and multivariate linear regression was performed to assess the association of key characteristics with DHL.
RESULTS
The results show a high DHL related to COVID-19 in 54.3% of students. Most of the Pakistani students demonstrated ~50% DHL in all dimensions, except of reliability. Multivariate findings showed that gender, sense of coherence and importance of information were found to be significantly associated with DHL. However, a negative association was observed with students’ satisfaction with information.
CONCLUSIONS
This led to the conclusion that critical operational and navigations skills are essential to achieve COVID-19 DHL and cope with stress, particularly to promote both personal and community health. Focused interventions and strategies should be designed to enhance DHL amongst university students to combat the pandemic.
Protocol study: sexual and reproductive health knowledge, information-seeking behaviour and attitudes among Saudi women: a questionnaire survey of university students
