The level of e-health literacy and selected health behavior of senior high school students in Corum city

This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted between September 2019 and February 2021 to determine the level of e-health literacy and selected health behaviors among senior high school students in Çorum city center. The study included 1349 volunteer senior high school students studying in public schools in the city center. The evaluation of the data collected by the group questionnaire method was made by using the percentage, mean, chi-square test through the SPSS 21.0 program. In evaluations, p<0,05 value was considered statistically significant. The research was approved by the Hitit University Non-Interventional Clinical Research Ethics Committee. Of the participants, 44,6% were men, 55,4% were women, with the mean age was 17,4 ± 0,6 years. The mean score from the e-Health Literacy Scale was found to be 25,9 ± 5,7. Among the students, 54,4% had high e-health literacy (26-40 points), 45,6% had low e-health literacy (8-25 points). Type of schools, education level of the fathers and the perception of health status made a significant difference in terms of e-health literacy (p<0,05). The rate of those with unregular health checks was 70,6% and the low e-health literacy rate in this group was 75,3% (p<0,01). The rate of those who measured their blood pressure in the last year was 48,6%, and in this group, e-health literacy higher (54,5%) (p<0,001). Among those who did not measured their blood cholesterol in the last year (78,8%), the low e-health literacy rate was significantly higher (81,3%) (p<0,05). Almost all of the students have measured their body weight in the last year, and e-health literacy was significantly higher in this group (p<0,001). Fruit and vegetable consumption frequency and fast-food consumption made a significant difference on the e-health literacy level of students (p<0,05). Almost all of the students (91,2%) didn't do exercise regularly and e-health literacy was significantly lower in this group (82,4%) (p<0,05). Among the e-health-related behaviors, e-health literacy showed a significant difference in terms of conducting health-related research, perception about health-related issues and using resources in accessing health information in the last week (p<0,05). Of the students, 25,2% downloaded health applications to their mobile phones, and low e-health literacy was more common among those who didn't download (p <0,001). About two-thirds of the students heard of the e-pulse application, and high e-health literacy was more common in this group (p<0,05). In summary, e-health literacy levels of adolescents were found low and selected health behaviours had significant difference on e-health literacy.