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Adapted digital health literacy and health information seeking behavior among lower income groups in Malaysia during the COVID-19 pandemic

Adapted digital health literacy and health information seeking behavior among lower income groups in Malaysia during the COVID-19 pandemic
Adapted digital health literacy and health information seeking behavior among lower income groups in Malaysia during the COVID-19 pandemic
Background: Misinformation has had a negative impact upon the global COVID-19 vaccination program. High-income and middle-income earners typically have better access to technology and health facilities than those in lower-income groups. This creates a rich-poor divide in Digital Health Literacy (DHL), where low-income earners have low DHL resulting in higher COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Therefore, this cross-sectional study was undertaken to assess the impact of health information seeking behavior on digital health literacy related to COVID-19 among low-income earners in Selangor, Malaysia.

Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted conveniently among 381 individuals from the low-income group in Selangor, Malaysia. The remote data collection (RDC) method was used to gather data. Validated interviewer-rated questionnaires were used to collect data via phone call. Respondents included in the study were 18 years and older. A normality of numerical variables were assessed using Shapiro-Wilk test. Univariate analysis of all variables was performed, and results were presented as means, mean ranks, frequencies, and percentages. Mann-Whitney U test or Kruskal Wallis H test was applied for the comparison of DHL and health information seeking behavior with characteristics of the participants. Multivariate linear regression models were applied using DHL as dependent variable and health information seeking behavior as independent factors, adjusting for age, gender, marital status, educational status, employment status, and household income.

Results: The mean age of the study participants was 38.16 ± 14.40 years ranging from 18 to 84 years. The vast majority (94.6%) of participants stated that information seeking regarding COVID-19 was easy or very easy. Around 7 percent of the respondents cited reading information about COVID-19 on the internet as very difficult. The higher mean rank of DHL search, content, reliability, relevance, and privacy was found among participants who were widowed, had primary education, or unemployed. An inverse relationship was found between overall DHL and confidence in the accuracy of the information on the internet regarding COVID-19 (β = -2.01, 95% CI = -2.22 to -1.79).

Conclusion: It is important to provide support to lower-income demographics to assist access to high-quality health information, including less educated, unemployed, and widowed populations. This can improve overall DHL.
Adult, COVID-19 Vaccines, COVID-19/epidemiology, Cross-Sectional Studies, Health Literacy, Humans, Information Seeking Behavior, Malaysia/epidemiology, Middle Aged, Pandemics, Reproducibility of Results, Young Adult
2296-2565
Marzo, Roy Rillera
9252d595-62b7-4559-8291-a6d0e0bdaf6b
Chen, Hana W. Jun
db759182-12d4-4034-9392-c9cf5ce06cfe
Abid, Khadijah
9965d468-0412-4a6f-8717-e0ab5853f5b7
Chauhan, Shekhar
0730f5f9-2980-4490-b6f0-30ce0548d6e6
Kaggwa, Mark Mohan
551766fd-7e44-422b-9486-f12137f55364
Essar, Mohammad Yasir
7ba803fe-3f4d-4021-a9f8-1eb7eba3fd24
Jayaram, Jacynta
2901767d-ae30-4ff5-b09f-526feab4f72d
Changmai, Manah Chandra
7fc35a7b-586a-4b0f-8d81-0f53127d4b2f
Wahab, Mohamad Khairuddin Bin Adbul
b9011413-1600-414b-a214-e3dbffb57823
Ariffin, Indang Ariati Binti
68ff6563-8ca8-4161-a344-07ec55296a90
Alwi, Muhammad Najib Bin Mohamad
95e4a69e-1ab3-40fa-aa5c-c01e970ef5cb
Head, Michael G
67ce0afc-2fc3-47f4-acf2-8794d27ce69c
Lin, Yulan
3117199c-19a0-4bb8-9fb2-afb5de22673e
Marzo, Roy Rillera
9252d595-62b7-4559-8291-a6d0e0bdaf6b
Chen, Hana W. Jun
db759182-12d4-4034-9392-c9cf5ce06cfe
Abid, Khadijah
9965d468-0412-4a6f-8717-e0ab5853f5b7
Chauhan, Shekhar
0730f5f9-2980-4490-b6f0-30ce0548d6e6
Kaggwa, Mark Mohan
551766fd-7e44-422b-9486-f12137f55364
Essar, Mohammad Yasir
7ba803fe-3f4d-4021-a9f8-1eb7eba3fd24
Jayaram, Jacynta
2901767d-ae30-4ff5-b09f-526feab4f72d
Changmai, Manah Chandra
7fc35a7b-586a-4b0f-8d81-0f53127d4b2f
Wahab, Mohamad Khairuddin Bin Adbul
b9011413-1600-414b-a214-e3dbffb57823
Ariffin, Indang Ariati Binti
68ff6563-8ca8-4161-a344-07ec55296a90
Alwi, Muhammad Najib Bin Mohamad
95e4a69e-1ab3-40fa-aa5c-c01e970ef5cb
Head, Michael G
67ce0afc-2fc3-47f4-acf2-8794d27ce69c
Lin, Yulan
3117199c-19a0-4bb8-9fb2-afb5de22673e

Marzo, Roy Rillera, Chen, Hana W. Jun, Abid, Khadijah, Chauhan, Shekhar, Kaggwa, Mark Mohan, Essar, Mohammad Yasir, Jayaram, Jacynta, Changmai, Manah Chandra, Wahab, Mohamad Khairuddin Bin Adbul, Ariffin, Indang Ariati Binti, Alwi, Muhammad Najib Bin Mohamad, Head, Michael G and Lin, Yulan (2022) Adapted digital health literacy and health information seeking behavior among lower income groups in Malaysia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Frontiers in Public Health, 10, [998272]. (doi:10.3389/fpubh.2022.998272).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background: Misinformation has had a negative impact upon the global COVID-19 vaccination program. High-income and middle-income earners typically have better access to technology and health facilities than those in lower-income groups. This creates a rich-poor divide in Digital Health Literacy (DHL), where low-income earners have low DHL resulting in higher COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Therefore, this cross-sectional study was undertaken to assess the impact of health information seeking behavior on digital health literacy related to COVID-19 among low-income earners in Selangor, Malaysia.

Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted conveniently among 381 individuals from the low-income group in Selangor, Malaysia. The remote data collection (RDC) method was used to gather data. Validated interviewer-rated questionnaires were used to collect data via phone call. Respondents included in the study were 18 years and older. A normality of numerical variables were assessed using Shapiro-Wilk test. Univariate analysis of all variables was performed, and results were presented as means, mean ranks, frequencies, and percentages. Mann-Whitney U test or Kruskal Wallis H test was applied for the comparison of DHL and health information seeking behavior with characteristics of the participants. Multivariate linear regression models were applied using DHL as dependent variable and health information seeking behavior as independent factors, adjusting for age, gender, marital status, educational status, employment status, and household income.

Results: The mean age of the study participants was 38.16 ± 14.40 years ranging from 18 to 84 years. The vast majority (94.6%) of participants stated that information seeking regarding COVID-19 was easy or very easy. Around 7 percent of the respondents cited reading information about COVID-19 on the internet as very difficult. The higher mean rank of DHL search, content, reliability, relevance, and privacy was found among participants who were widowed, had primary education, or unemployed. An inverse relationship was found between overall DHL and confidence in the accuracy of the information on the internet regarding COVID-19 (β = -2.01, 95% CI = -2.22 to -1.79).

Conclusion: It is important to provide support to lower-income demographics to assist access to high-quality health information, including less educated, unemployed, and widowed populations. This can improve overall DHL.

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Accepted/In Press date: 25 August 2022
Published date: 14 September 2022
Additional Information: Copyright © 2022 Marzo, Chen, Abid, Chauhan, Kaggwa, Essar, Jayaram, Changmai, Wahab, Ariffin, Alwi, Head and Lin.
Keywords: Adult, COVID-19 Vaccines, COVID-19/epidemiology, Cross-Sectional Studies, Health Literacy, Humans, Information Seeking Behavior, Malaysia/epidemiology, Middle Aged, Pandemics, Reproducibility of Results, Young Adult

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 471402
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/471402
ISSN: 2296-2565
PURE UUID: 3aafb864-16f4-4f5f-83ae-0779d943d9df
ORCID for Michael G Head: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1189-0531

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Date deposited: 07 Nov 2022 17:32
Last modified: 26 Mar 2024 02:46

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Contributors

Author: Roy Rillera Marzo
Author: Hana W. Jun Chen
Author: Khadijah Abid
Author: Shekhar Chauhan
Author: Mark Mohan Kaggwa
Author: Mohammad Yasir Essar
Author: Jacynta Jayaram
Author: Manah Chandra Changmai
Author: Mohamad Khairuddin Bin Adbul Wahab
Author: Indang Ariati Binti Ariffin
Author: Muhammad Najib Bin Mohamad Alwi
Author: Michael G Head ORCID iD
Author: Yulan Lin

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