E-HEALTH LITERACY ON DENGUE AMONG SCHOOL OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH STUDENTS IN 2025 AND SOME RELATED FACTORS

Abstract

Electronic health literacy refers to an individual’s ability to seek, understand, evaluate, and apply health information from electronic sources to make appropriate decisions about their health. This cross-sectional descriptive study aimed to describe electronic health literacy regarding dengue and identify associated factors among 439 students at the School of Preventive Medicine and Public Health in 2025. The average eHEALS score among participants was 31.94 ± 5.99. Linear regression analysis showed two significant factors associated with eHEALS scores: age (p = 0.003, coef = 0.59; 95% CI: [0.20, 0.97]) and place of birth (p = 0.037, coef = -1.36; 95% CI: [-2.63, -0.08]). Higher age tends to have higher eHEALS scores, while those born in rural areas had lower scores compared to those from urban areas. Overall, students demonstrated a relatively good level of electronic health literacy regarding dengue. The findings suggest a need to strengthen electronic health literacy education tailored to different student groups to improve their ability to access, evaluate, and use online health information.