Effects Of Ehealth Literacy And Health Anxiety On Cyberchondria Among College Students

Objective: To understand the current situation of ehealth literacy,health anxiety and cyberchondria among college students and their correlation,analyze the influence of ehealth literacy and health anxiety on cyberchondria,and provide theoretical basis for the future health management of college students and cyberchondria related researches.Methods: In this study,1085 full-time undergraduate students from a university in Jilin Province were selected from April to May 2021.General condition Scale,Chinese version of e HEALS,Chinese version Short Health Anxiety Inventory and Chinese version Short Health Anxiety Inventory were used to investigate.SPSS 26.0 was used for statistical description,t-test,ANOVA,Spearman correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis,and p < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant difference.Result:General condition of subjects: The average age of subjects was 20.01 ± 1.44 years old.There were 684 female students(63.0%)and 625 Han nationality students(57.6%).603 people(55.6%)spent 3 to 7 hours online on average,and596 people(54.9%)had been online for more than 7 years.904 people(83.3%)obtained information through the Internet.1043 had never suffered from serious diseases(96.1%),646 thought their health was good(59.5%),and 965 had good relations with their family members(88.9%).(2)Status and correlation of ehealth literacy,health anxiety and cyberchondria among subjects:1)Ehealth literacy: The qualified rate was 28.20%.College students who study nursing and physical education majors,access to information via the Internet,not suffering from serious illness,have good relationships with family members,the average daily Internet time is shorter,self-rated health is better,family income and living expenses monthly are higher,parents are in good health and parents have higher educational levels,their ehealth literacy are relatively higher.2)Health anxiety: 59.91% of the subjects had different degrees of health anxiety.The degree of health anxiety was higher among female students,those who spent more than 7 hours on the Internet on an average day,those who got information through the Internet,those who had suffered from serious diseases,and those who thought their health status was poor.The degree of health anxiety of college students with Internet age less than 3 years,who get information from medical staff and have good relationship with family members is relatively lower.3)Cyberchondria: The total score of cyberchondria of the subjects was 30.42±6.36.The degree of cyberchondria was relatively heavy among gender,college students who spent more than 7 hours on the Internet per day,obtained information through the Internet,had a serious illness,thought their own health was poor,had a poor relationship with family members,and mother are in not good or poor health.College students majoring in physical education,obtaining information from medical staff and living on average more than 2,000 yuan per month showed relatively low degree of cyberchondria.4)Correlation of three variables: the ehealth literacy of the subjects was negatively correlated with health anxiety and cyberchondria,and college students’ health anxiety was positively correlated with cyberchondria(p < 0.05).(3)Majors,the average online duration,obtain information through the Internet,personal history of major diseases and family relationship,these general demographic variables and ehealth literacy,and health anxiety can predict college students’ cyberchondria,can explain 58.6 of the total variation(p <0.05).Among them,general demographic variables can explain 17.7%;Ehealth literacy accounted for 17.3%;Health anxiety can be explained in 23.2%(p <0.05).Conclusion:(1)The qualified rate of ehealth literacy of college students is low,and health anxiety and cyberchondria are in the middle level.(2)People who get information through the Internet,spend too much time online on an average day,have a serious illness,and have poor self-rated health have higher degree of cyberchondria.Those with good relationships with family members had lower levels of cyberchondria.Major,the average daily Internet time,access to information through the Internet,personal history of serious diseases,and relationship with family members are the factors that affect college students’ cyberchondria.(3)The lower the ehealth literacy and the more serious the health anxiety,the more serious the symptoms of cyberchondria.Ehealth literacy and health anxiety are the influencing factors of college students’ cyberchondria,among which health anxiety is the most significant factor to predict college students’ cyberchondria.It is suggested that paying attention to cyberchondria susceptible population.Improving their ehealth literacy and alleviating health anxiety by means of health education,may prevent cyberchondria to some extent.