eHEALS as a predictive factor of digital health information seeking behavior among Brazilian undergraduate students

Exploring behavioral intention to use telemedicine services post COVID-19: a cross sectional study in Saudi Arabia

Introduction

While telemedicine offers significant benefits, there remain substantial knowledge gaps in the literature, particularly regarding its use in Saudi Arabia. This study aims to explore health consumers' behavioral intention to use telemedicine examining the associated factors such as eHealth literacy and attitudes toward telemedicine services.

Methods

A cross-sectional observational study was conducted to collect data on demographics, health status, internet skills, attitudes toward telemedicine, and eHealth literacy. An online survey was administered at two large public gatherings in Riyadh. The eHEALS-Pl scale was used to measure perceived eHealth literacy levels, and data analysis was performed using SPSS (IBM Corp. United States).

Results

There were 385 participants, with an equal distribution of genders. The largest age group was 18-20 years old (57%). Nearly half of the participants were neither employed nor students, while 43% had access to governmental hospitals through employment. 71% reported proficiency in using the internet. Health-wise, 47% rated their health as excellent, and 56% did not have medical insurance. 87% expressed a high likelihood of using telemedicine if offered by a provider. Participants were categorized based on their eHealth Literacy scores, with 54% scoring low and 46% scoring high. Overall, participants showed positive attitudes toward telemedicine, with 82% agreeing that it saves time, money, and provides access to specialized care. About half of the participants perceived the process of seeing a doctor through telemedicine video as complex. Both eHealth Literacy and attitudes toward telemedicine showed a statistically significant association with the intention to use telemedicine (p < 0.001). There was a positive and significant correlation between eHealth Literacy and attitudes (ρ =0.460; p < 0.001). Multivariate ordinal regression analysis revealed that the odds for a high likelihood of intention to use telemedicine significantly increased with positive attitudes (p < 0.001). Mediation analysis confirmed the significant mediating role of attitudes toward telemedicine in the relationship between eHealth Literacy and the intention to use telemedicine.

Conclusion

The findings underline the importance of enhancing health literacy and consumer attitudes toward telemedicine, particularly during the healthcare digital transformation we are experiencing globally. This is crucial for promoting increased acceptance and utilization of telemedicine services beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

Psychophysiological reactions of Internet users exposed to fluoride information and disinformation: Protocol for a randomized controlled trial (Preprint)

Background

False messages on the internet continually propagate possible adverse effects of fluoridated oral care products and water, despite their essential role in preventing and controlling dental caries.

Objective

This study aims to evaluate the patterns of psychophysiological reactions of adults after the consumption of internet-based fluoride-related information and disinformation.

Methods

A 2-armed, single-blinded, parallel, and randomized controlled trial will be conducted with 58 parents or caregivers of children who attend the Clinics of Pediatric Dentistry at the Bauru School of Dentistry, considering an attrition of 10% and a significance level of 5%. The participants will be randomized into test and intervention groups, being respectively exposed to fluoride-related information and disinformation presented on a computer with simultaneous monitoring of their psychophysiological reactions, including analysis of their heart rates (HRs) and 7 facial features (mouth outer, mouth corner, eye area, eyebrow activity, face area, face motion, and facial center of mass). Then, participants will respond to questions about the utility and truthfulness of content, their emotional state after the experiment, eHealth literacy, oral health knowledge, and socioeconomic characteristics. The Shapiro-Wilk and Levene tests will be used to determine the normality and homogeneity of the data, which could lead to further statistical analyses for elucidating significant differences between groups, using parametric (Student t test) or nonparametric (Mann-Whitney U test) analyses. Moreover, multiple logistic regression models will be developed to evaluate the association of distinct variables with the psychophysiological aspects. Only factors with significant Wald statistics in the simple analysis will be included in the multiple models (P<.2). Furthermore, receiver operating characteristic curve analysis will be performed to determine the accuracy of the remote HR with respect to the measured HR. For all analyses, P<.05 will be considered significant.

Results

From June 2022, parents and caregivers who frequent the Clinics of Pediatric Dentistry at the Bauru School of Dentistry will be invited to participate in the study and will be randomized into 1 of the 2 groups (control or intervention). Data collection is expected to be completed in December 2023. Subsequently, the authors will analyze the data and publish the findings of the clinical trial by June 2024.

Conclusions

This randomized controlled trial aims to elucidate differences between psychophysiological patterns of adults exposed to true or false oral health content. This evidence may support the development of further studies and digital strategies, such as neural network models to automatically detect disinformation available on the internet.

Trial Registration

Brazilian Clinical Trials Registry (RBR-7q4ymr2) U1111-1263-8227; https://tinyurl.com/2kf73t3d

International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)

PRR1-10.2196/39133