title: Health Consumers eHealth Literacy to Decrease Disparities in Accessing eHealth Information.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to assess the perceived eHealth literacy of a general health consumer population so that health care professionals can effectively address skills gaps in health consumers' ability to access and use high quality online health information. Participants were recruited from three public library branches in a Northeast Florida community. The eHealth literacy scale (eHEALS) was used. The majority of participants (n = 108) reported they knew how and where to find health information and how to use it to make health decisions; knowledge of what health resources were available and confidence in the ability to distinguish high from low quality information was considerably less. The findings suggest the need for eHealth education and support to health consumers from health care professionals, in particular, how to access and evaluate the quality of health information.
authors.affiliation: Florida State University, College of Nursing.
authors.forename: Hyejin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Florida State University, College of Nursing.
authors.forename: Eileen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cormier
authors.affiliation: Florida State University, College of Nursing.
authors.forename: Gordon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Glenna
mesh_terms: D003256:Community Participation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D054626:Consumer Health Information / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005431:Florida; D063005:Health Information Systems / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D057220:Health Literacy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006306:Health Surveys; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D020380:Needs Assessment