Digital health literacy levels and influencing factors among college medical students in China during post-COVID-19 pandemic

Digital health literacy (DHL) is the ability to identify, understand, and use health information from digital sources. DHL may differ among individuals due to many factors. Therefore, this cross-sectional study investigated DHL and its associated factors among 1065 vocational college medical students in Sichuan, China, after the COVID-19 pandemic. Their demographic data were collected using a DHL questionnaire, and their health information seeking was rated. Multivariate logistic regression was used to evaluate how different factors influenced DHL. The participants had a median age of 19 years, and 82.90% were female. Among the participants, 52.26% had high DHL. Participants’ DHL was significantly influenced by age (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.83, p = 0.037), year of study (sophomore [AOR = 2.68, p < 0.001], junior [AOR = 1.82, p < 0.001]), major (nursing [AOR = 0.63, p = 0.006], rehabilitation [AOR = 0.64, p = 0.023], medicine and food or education and sports [AOR = 0.60, p < 0.001]), having had a family member or friend infected with COVID-19 (AOR = 1.64, p = 0.022), health education (AOR = 2.00, p = 0.002 ), and health information seeking (AOR = 2.33, p < 0.001). Our findings indicate that the DHL of some vocational college medical students remains low. Therefore, improving these skills requires teaching strategies and curricula that encourage students to effectively locate and evaluate digital sources.