[Concept of Digital Health Literacy: A Scoping Review].
Junghee Yoon, Mangyeong Lee, Juhee Cho
Abstract
Open AccessDigital health literacy (DHL) has become important for individuals to take on the responsibility to manage their health for chronic disease. However, few studies have investigated what is DHL and its associated factors. Thus, we conducted a scoping review to to address the above knowledge gaps, and to identify the concept of DHL designed to counter these impacts for clinical application. A systematic review was conducted of studies published in MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science from January 2011 to October 2019 using PRISMA-ScR guideline. Articles eligible for inclusion focused on the conceptualization of DHL or electronic health (eHealth) literacy (EHL) including new digital health technologies, and clinical application reported on factors of DHL and Included newly developed measurement instruments referred to as DHL, and EHL including new digital health technologies. In 26 studies, various terms and definitions of DHL were used, and most articles described a concept of eHealth literacy as e-Health focused the use of information communication technologies. We defined 3 thematic categories as DHL: 1) advanced health literacy, 2) digital skills-based and multidimensional literacy and 3) others consisting of internal or external factors for the users' engagement in digital health. The findings from our study confirm that the basic approaches of DHL share the same scope with health literacy, but DHL included a broader context and new concepts such as technology-related ability. This study provides an integrated perspective on the status and influencing factors of DHL.