title: Adolescent health literacy and the Internet: challenges and opportunities.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Adolescents have increasingly turned to the Internet as a resource for insight into their health questions and concerns. However, the extent to which adolescents will benefit from using the Internet as a source for health information will be determined in great part by their level of media literacy and health literacy. The purpose of this review is to explore challenges that adolescents face when using the Internet to access health information and opportunities for intervention.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Adolescents must be able to access, understand, analyze, and evaluate health information on the Internet and then apply this information to make appropriate health decisions. Challenges faced by adolescents fall into the realm of functional literacy (e.g., not being able to spell a medical term needed in a search), critical literacy (e.g., not being able to differentiate accurate from inaccurate online health information), and, lastly, interactive literacy (e.g., translating online health information to appropriate health behaviors).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  More research is needed in this field to better understand the challenges and to propose effective solutions. However, a multifaceted approach that engages policymakers, educators, healthcare providers, online health information providers, and parents may be positioned to make the largest impact.
authors.affiliation: Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Anuja V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bickham
mesh_terms: D022126:Access to Information / Q000523:psychology; D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D016497:Adolescent Health Services / Q000639:trends; D015438:Health Behavior; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods; D057220:Health Literacy; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data