eHealth Literacy and Partner Involvement in Treatment Decision Making for Men With Newly Diagnosed Localized Prostate Cancer.
Lixin Song, Kimberly Tatum, Giselle Greene and 1 others
PMID 28222090WHAT IT FOUND
Partners of men with newly diagnosed localized prostate cancer who had personal Internet access had higher eHealth literacy, reported as 10.6 points higher.
Higher partner eHealth literacy was linked to seeking second opinions and knowing treatment options.
Key findings
01Partners' eHealth literacy was significantly associated with their involvement in seeking a second opinion and their awareness of treatment options.
02In the adjusted model, partners' eHealth literacy remained significantly related to personal Internet access; the reported eHEALS score difference was 10.6 points, and this variable explained 29% of variance.
03Partners had a mean eHealth literacy score of 28.5 on an 8 to 40 scale, and 8% had no personal Internet access.
STILL TO COME
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What it does not show
The study measured associations at one time, so it cannot show that eHealth literacy caused greater partner involvement in treatment decisions. The eHealth literacy results were based on 142 partners, although 281 partners were surveyed, so the analysed sample was smaller than the survey sample. The sample was small and mostly Caucasian, well educated, and relatively high income, which limits generalizability. Only female partners were assessed, and no same-sex couples participated, so findings may not apply to male partners or same-sex partnerships. Partners self-reported eHealth literacy and Internet use, which may have been affected by social desirability. Only English-speaking partners were included.
Declared interests
The supplied text does not report funding or conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that helping partners use online information will improve prostate cancer treatment decisions. This was a cross-sectional survey of 142 partners using self-reported eHealth literacy, and it did not test an intervention or show that literacy caused involvement.