Validating the Digital Health Literacy Instrument in Relation to COVID-19 Information (COVID-DHL-K) among South Korean Undergraduates

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Heeran Chun
  • Eun Ja Park
  • Seul Ki Choi
  • Hyeran Yoon
  • Orkan Okan
  • Kevin Dadaczynski

Digital health literacy is crucial in accessing and applying health information in the COVID-19 pandemic period. Young college students are exposed daily to digital technologies, and they have further increased the use of digital information during the COVID-19 period. This study aimed to adapt DHLI into Korean and to assess the psychometric properties, during the COVID-19 pandemic period. A cross-sectional, nationwide, and web-based survey was conducted among 604 Korean undergraduates from 23 December 2020 to 8 January 2021. On the basis of the Digital Health Literacy Instrument (DHLI) by the Global COVID HL Network, the Korean questionnaire was developed by group translation, expert reviews, and forward–backward translation for validation. The scale reliability and validity were examined using Cronbach’s alpha and confirmatory factor analysis. Results support the theoretical and empirical four-factor structure (search, express, evaluate, use) in the coronavirus-related DHL among Korean University students. Internal reliability of the overall scale was high (Cronbach’s α = 0.908). The four-factor model was supported by confirmatory factor analysis (GFI = 0.972, CFI = 0.984, TLI = 0.978, RMSEA = 0.045). This study revealed that the COVID-DHL-K is a valid and reliable measure with appropriate psychometric characteristics.

Original languageEnglish
Article number3437
JournalInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Volume19
Issue number6
Number of pages9
ISSN1661-7827
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 14.03.2022

Bibliographical note

This research was funded by the Korea Research Foundation (grant number: NRF 2020R1I1A3073554, NRF-2019S1A5C2A03081040).

    Research areas

  • Digital health literacy, Measure, University students, Validation, Reproducibility of Results, COVID-19/epidemiology, Pandemics, Cross-Sectional Studies, Students, Humans, Health Literacy, Republic of Korea/epidemiology
  • Health sciences

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