What question did this study set out to answer?

The study aims to develop and assess the effectiveness of a digital health literacy program for multicultural children and adolescents.

May 2, 2026

Development and effectiveness of a digital health literacy improvement program (DHL-Up) for multicultural children and adolescents in South Korea: a quasi-experimental study.

Key Points

The study aims to develop and assess the effectiveness of a digital health literacy program for multicultural children and adolescents.
Developed a five-session program guided by the Transactional Model of eHealth Literacy and the ADDIE model.
Used a quasi-experimental design with a non-equivalent control group and pretest-posttest measures.
Evaluated 31 children and adolescents aged 10-15 years through an online program delivered via Zoom.
The experimental group showed a significant increase in digital health literacy (t=2.73, p=0.011).
Improvements in the usefulness of Internet health information were also significant (t=3.11, p=0.004).
No significant change was found for information overload (t=-0.17, p=0.854).

Abstract

PURPOSE: Digital health literacy is essential for health management among children and adolescents, with multicultural youth being particularly vulnerable to challenges in accessing, appraising, and using digital health information. This study aimed to develop a digital health literacy improvement program (DHL-Up) tailored to multicultural children and adolescents and evaluate its effectiveness. METHODS: Guided by the Transactional Model of eHealth Literacy and the ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation) model, a five-session program was developed to strengthen functional, communicative, critical, and translational digital health literacy. A non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used. The participants included 31 multicultural children and adolescents aged 10-15 years (experimental group: 14; control group: 17). The experimental group participated in a 5-week online program (60 minutes per session) delivered to small groups via Zoom. Data were collected before and after the intervention and analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-tests, Mann-Whitney U tests, chi-square tests, and Fisher's exact tests. RESULTS: The experimental group showed significantly greater improvements in digital health literacy (t=2.73, p=.011) and the usefulness of Internet health information (t=3.11, p=.004) than the control group. No significant difference was found for information overload (t=-0.17, p=.854). CONCLUSION: This study developed and validated a tailored digital health literacy intervention for multicultural children and adolescents, demonstrating its applicability in schools, public health centers, and community settings. These findings provide foundational evidence to support the institutionalization of digital health literacy education and highlight its potential to mitigate digital health information disparities among vulnerable populations.

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