eHealth Literacy and Quality of Life in Patients: A Narrative Review of Mediating Effecting

Background: Guided by the World Health Organization’s Global Strategy on Digital Health 2020– 2025, and with the widespread adoption of digital health concepts globally, public health management is undergoing a profound transformation toward online and intelligent models. In this context, leveraging digital intelligence technologies to empower full life-cycle health management—and thereby tangibly improve people’s quality of life—has become a core objective in the field of international health promotion. Meanwhile, through a review of the literature, we found that eHealth literacy can further influence quality of life through mediating factors. Therefore, this review summarizes specific mediating variables and explores their underlying mechanisms. Methods: Based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, we conducted a literature search in the CNKI, PubMed and Web of science databases using keywords such as “eHealth literacy”, “quality of life”, and “mediating effect”. We employed a narrative review approach to summarize and synthesize the literature on mediating variables in the relationship between eHealth literacy and quality of life. Results: A total of 7 studies were included after the screening process. All 7 articles included in the review were cross-sectional studies. Social support, self-efficacy, self-management ability, life satisfaction, and fear of disease progression were found to play significant mediating roles between eHealth literacy and quality of life. Conclusion: Existing evidence indicates that the relationship between eHealth literacy and quality of life is influenced by mediating factors. Future eHealth interventions should target these mediating factors to effectively improve patients’ quality of life.