title: Health literacy and willingness to use online health information by teens with asthma and diabetes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study measured health literacy in a population of teens in treatment for asthma or diabetes and tested the association between health literacy and willingness to use online health resources.
  
  
  METHODS
  About 180 patients aged 13-18 years treated for asthma or diabetes in specialty care clinics completed assessments of demographic characteristics, health literacy, and Internet access and use. Teens were provided a resource page listing selected publically available health-related Web sites and asked about perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and intent to use the listed Web sites. The relationship between demographic characteristics, health literacy, and online health information use was tested using chi-squared or Fisher's exact test. Predictors of intent to use resource page Web sites were assessed using bivariate and multivariate ordinal logistic regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  About 92% of participants had adequate health literacy. Over 50% of participants had previously searched online for health information. Older age was the only significant predictor of health information search. Most teens (79%) reported intent to use at least one Web site from the resource page at least occasionally within the next 3 months. Higher health literacy (odds ratio [OR]=6.24, p<0.01) and stronger perceived usefulness (OR=1.74, p=0.01) were associated with greater intent for regular use, after controlling for demographic and Internet access variables.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Teens with lower health literacy searched online for health information as often as peers with higher literacy, but were less likely to express the intent to use recommended sites. Belief in the usefulness of a Web site is the strongest attitudinal predictor of intended future use.
authors.affiliation: The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio 43205, USA. deena.chisolm@nationwidechildrens.org
authors.forename: Deena J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Chisolm
authors.forename: Dana S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Hardin
authors.forename: Karen S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: McCoy
authors.forename: Lauren D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Ann Scheck
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: McAlearney
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Gardner
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001249:Asthma; D001292:Attitude to Computers; D054626:Consumer Health Information / Q000379:methods*; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus; D005260:Female; D057220:Health Literacy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors