Electronic Health Literacy and its associated factors among adult patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus attending a General Out-patient Clinic in Hong Kong (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Previous studies have suggested a higher electronic health literacy (eHealth literacy) level is associated with better self-care behaviour in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) patients. There is limited knowledge about the level of eHealth literacy and its predictors in local public healthcare setting. OBJECTIVE This study aims to explore the eHealth literacy level and identifies the association of low eHealth literacy with sociodemographic factors, internet use behaviour and diabetic control among T2DM patients in a General Out-patient Clinic (GOPC) in Hong Kong. METHODS This is a cross sectional questionnaire study assessing the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS), socio-demographic factors, internet use behaviour and diabetic control of the participants RESULTS 360 patients were interviewed with a response rate of 94.8%. The mean age of participants was 63.2 ± 9.8 and 57.2% participants were male. 56.7% of participants had low eHealth literacy and the median eHEALS score was 24 (IQR 21). The associated factors of low eHealth literacy included being older age (p=0.02), lower education (p=0.01), not having searched health information online (p<0.01) and having lower self-perceived health (p<0.01). There was no statistically significant association between eHealth literacy and diabetic control. CONCLUSIONS More than half of the participants in this study had low eHealth literacy. They were older, with lower educational level, had lower self-perceived health and many of them never search online health information. Further interventions targeting on those patients could be designed. CLINICALTRIAL Ethics approval has been applied under local Research Ethics Committee with the reference (KW/EX-23-064(187-09). https://www.ha.org.hk/ho/research_ethics/rec_home.htm