Digital health literacy, behavior and knowledge of adolescents for hand hygiene during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rafaela Aparecida Prata, Juliana Bastoni da Silva, Sidiany Mendes Pimentel and 2 others
PMID 39230134WHAT IT FOUND
Brazilian adolescents with higher digital health literacy reported better hand hygiene knowledge and behavior.
Hand hygiene knowledge and behavior were also higher in those who completed high school, studied health, sought pandemic information, or used scientific articles.
Key findings
01Hand hygiene knowledge and behavior were associated with higher digital health literacy, with increases of 1.28 and 0.40 points in the digital literacy score.
02Hand hygiene knowledge and behavior were higher among adolescents who had completed high school, studied health, sought pandemic information, or used scientific articles.
03Hand hygiene knowledge and behavior were lower among men and among adolescents who reported not wearing a mask in open air.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The survey was cross-sectional and self-selected, so it cannot show that digital health literacy caused better hand hygiene or that education would change behavior. Participants were recruited through social media and snowball sampling, and most were from the Southeast region (369 of 473), so they may not represent adolescents across Brazil. The study was online, so adolescents without devices, internet or reading skills could not take part. Data were collected when adolescent vaccination was beginning, which may have influenced answers about vaccination. The researchers did not assess socioeconomic level of guardians or adolescents, which could affect health literacy and hand hygiene behavior.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the associations as proof that improving digital health literacy will improve hand hygiene. This was a cross-sectional survey of self-selected adolescents using self-report questionnaires, and it did not test an educational intervention.