TY  - JOUR
AU  - Kyaw, Myat Yadana
AU  - Aung, Myo Nyein
AU  - Koyanagi, Yuka
AU  - Moolphate, Saiyud
AU  - Aung, Thin Nyein Nyein
AU  - Ma, Hok Ka Carol
AU  - Lee, Hocheol
AU  - Nam, Hae-Kweun
AU  - Nam, Eun Woo
AU  - Yuasa, Motoyuki
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/8/13
TI  - Sociodigital Determinants of eHealth Literacy and Related Impact on Health Outcomes and eHealth Use in Korean Older Adults: Community-Based Cross-Sectional Survey
JO  - JMIR Aging
SP  - e56061
VL  - 7
KW  - eHealth literacy
KW  - eHEALS
KW  - electronic health information
KW  - eHealth information
KW  - health literacy
KW  - health education
KW  - eHealth education
KW  - health training
KW  - eHealth training
KW  - digital health
KW  - digital technology
KW  - digital intervention
KW  - digital interventions
KW  - gray digital divide
KW  - healthy aging
KW  - gerontology
KW  - geriatric
KW  - geriatrics
KW  - older adult
KW  - older adults
KW  - older person
KW  - older people
KW  - aging
KW  - eHealth Literacy Scale
AB  - Background: eHealth literacy is an essential skill for pursuing electronic health information, particularly for older people whose health needs increase with age. South Korea is now at the intersection of a rapidly digitalizing society and an increasingly aged population. eHealth literacy enables older people to maximize the effective use of emerging digital technology for their health and quality of life. Understanding the eHealth literacy of Korean older adults is critical to eliminating the gray digital divide and inequity in health information access. Objective: This study aims to investigate factors influencing eHealth literacy in older Korean adults and its impact on health outcomes and eHealth use. Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey. Community-dwelling older adults 65 years and older in 2 urban cities in South Korea were included. eHealth literacy was measured by the eHealth Literacy Scale. Ordinal logistic regression was used to analyze factors associated with eHealth literacy and multivariate ANOVA for the impact of eHealth literacy on health outcomes and eHealth use. Results: In total, 434 participants were analyzed. A total of 22.3% (97/434) of participants had high eHealth literacy skills. Increasing age, higher monthly income, and time spent on the internet were significantly associated with eHealth literacy (P<.001), and social media users were 3.97 times (adjusted odds ratio 3.97, 95% CI 1.02‐15.43; P=.04) more likely to have higher skill. Higher eHealth literacy was associated with better self-perceived health and frequent use of digital technologies for accessing health and care services (P<.001). Conclusions: Disparity in socioeconomic status and engagement on the internet and social media can result in different levels of eHealth literacy skills, which can have consequential impacts on health outcomes and eHealth use. Tailored eHealth interventions, grounded on the social and digital determinants of eHealth literacy, could facilitate eHealth information access among older adults and foster a digitally inclusive healthy aging community. 
SN  - 2561-7605
UR  - https://aging.jmir.org/2024/1/e56061
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/56061
DO  - 10.2196/56061
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/56061
ER  -