Ehealth literacy and self-care behavior during the coronavirus disease-19 pandemic among youths: A path analysis

BACKGROUND: eHealth literacy can affect one’s health behavior through the intention to motivate individuals and allow them to make health-related choices. AIM: This study aimed to examine the association between eHealth literacy and self-care behavior among youths in Yogyakarta during the coronavirus disease pandemic. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 455 never-married youths aged 15–24 years who lived in Yogyakarta Province completed the online survey that was conducted from October 5 to October 19, 2020. There were some indicators measured in the survey: eHealth Literacy, health information-seeking behavior, the intention of health maintenance, self-maintenance of health behavior, perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, and attitude toward health maintenance. Path analysis was conducted to determine the influencing factors of eHealth literacy and self-care behavior. RESULTS: Five in 10 youths accessed the internet more than 4 hours a day, though more than half of youths had low eHealth literacy levels. Intention (β = 0.09;95% CI = 0.01–0.18;p = 0.037), perceived behavioral control (β = 0.46;95% CI = 0.38–0.54;p ≤ 0.001), and subjective norms (β = 0.24;95% CI = 0.16–0.33;p ≤ 0.001) had a significant positive direct effect on youth self-care behavior. Attitude indirectly affects self-care behavior through the intention (β = 0.46;95% CI = 0.39–0.53;p ≤ 0.001) together with eHealth literacy (β = 0.11;95% CI= 0.04–0.18;p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: Health literacy does not explicitly affect youths’ self-care behavior, but it becomes crucial when it builds youths’ intention to behave healthier. The positive impact of intention to enhance self-health care seems to have occurred only if eHealth literacy was adopted.