TY - JOUR

T1 - COVID-digital health literacy and subjective well-being of students in Ghana

T2 - Mediation-moderation analyses

AU - Quansah, Frank

AU - Ankomah, Francis

AU - Agormedah, Edmond K.

AU - Abieraba, Richard S.K.

AU - Srem-Sai, Medina

AU - Hagan, John E.

AU - Okan, Orkan

AU - Dadaczynski, Kevin

AU - Schack, Thomas

N1 - Funding Information: The study received no external funding. However, the authors sincerely thank Bielefeld University, Germany for providing financial support through the Institutional Open Access Publication Fund for the article processing charge (APC). Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors. Health Science Reports published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.

PY - 2022/11/1

Y1 - 2022/11/1

N2 - Background: Previous research has established a strong association between COVID-19 digital health literacy (DHL) and subjective well-being among several populations, including students. With the growing misinformation and heightened fear of COVID-19 among persons with an underlying medical condition, several scholars have questioned the direct relationship between DHL and well-being. This study assessed the moderating roles of information accuracy concerns and the existence of an underlying medical condition among students. Methods: Using a cross-sectional design, a multi-stage sampling approach was used to select 1392 students from senior high schools in Northern Ghana who completed a questionnaire containing information on DHL, information accuracy, subjective well-being, and underlying health condition, with reported internal consistency coefficients above 0.70. The data which was processed with SPSS version 25, was analyzed using correlation (Pearson and biserial), and Hayes' PROCESS for the moderation and mediation analyses. Results: A significant positive relationship was found between (a) DHL and subjective well-being, (b) DHL and information accuracy concerns, and (c) information accuracy concerns and subjective well-being. However, the prevalence of underlying health condition was negatively associated with information accuracy, DHL, and subjective well-being. Information accuracy concerns and the existence of an underlying medical condition significantly regulated the relationship between DHL and subjective well-being. Conclusions: Demonstrating satisfactory levels of DHL does not necessarily result in improved subjective well-being. However, emphasis should be placed on whether individuals attach much importance to the accuracy of information retrieved as well as having or not an underlying health condition.

AB - Background: Previous research has established a strong association between COVID-19 digital health literacy (DHL) and subjective well-being among several populations, including students. With the growing misinformation and heightened fear of COVID-19 among persons with an underlying medical condition, several scholars have questioned the direct relationship between DHL and well-being. This study assessed the moderating roles of information accuracy concerns and the existence of an underlying medical condition among students. Methods: Using a cross-sectional design, a multi-stage sampling approach was used to select 1392 students from senior high schools in Northern Ghana who completed a questionnaire containing information on DHL, information accuracy, subjective well-being, and underlying health condition, with reported internal consistency coefficients above 0.70. The data which was processed with SPSS version 25, was analyzed using correlation (Pearson and biserial), and Hayes' PROCESS for the moderation and mediation analyses. Results: A significant positive relationship was found between (a) DHL and subjective well-being, (b) DHL and information accuracy concerns, and (c) information accuracy concerns and subjective well-being. However, the prevalence of underlying health condition was negatively associated with information accuracy, DHL, and subjective well-being. Information accuracy concerns and the existence of an underlying medical condition significantly regulated the relationship between DHL and subjective well-being. Conclusions: Demonstrating satisfactory levels of DHL does not necessarily result in improved subjective well-being. However, emphasis should be placed on whether individuals attach much importance to the accuracy of information retrieved as well as having or not an underlying health condition.

KW - computer literacy

KW - COVID-19

KW - health literacy

KW - health status

KW - infodemic

KW - information seeking behaviour

KW - mental health

KW - students

KW - Health sciences

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85143132688&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/hsr2.916

DO - 10.1002/hsr2.916

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 36425902

AN - SCOPUS:85143132688

VL - 5

JO - Health Science Reports

JF - Health Science Reports

SN - 2398-8835

IS - 6

M1 - e916

ER -