The Concept of eHealth Literacy and Its Measurement

Abstract

The objective of this study was to translate the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS) into German, to evaluate this translation through psychometric testing in a German sample of adolescents, and to analyze whether the content-derived hypothesis of two eHEALS subscales was confirmed by the data. We hypothesized that the first subscale would cover self-perceived competence in seeking health information online, and the second subscale information appraisal of health information on the Internet. A cross-sectional survey among 18-year-old students (N = 327) using our translation of the eHEALS was conducted. A confirmatory factor analysis compared the 1-factor model based on Norman and Skinners’ analyses with the a priori specified 2-factor model. The results indicated a better fit for the 2-factor model (chi-square difference of 150.93, p < .0001), supporting the division into subscales.