Relationship of the Sense of Coherence and E-health literacy With Health Anxiety in Older Women

Objectives This study aims to investigate the relationship of the sense of coherence and e-health literacy with health anxiety in older women. Methods & Materials This is a cross-sectional study on 350 older women from Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada, who were selected using a convenience sampling method. The health anxiety inventory (HAI), the sense of coherence scale (SOCS), and the eHEALS were employed to collect data. Data analysis was done using the Pearson correlation test (to evaluate the relationships between variables) and multiple linear regression (to identify predictors of health anxiety), conducted in SPSS software, version 27. Results The participants’ mean age was 71.43±5.62 years. The sense of coherence (r=-0.35, P<0.001) and e-health literacy (r=-0.42, P<0.001) had a significant negative correlation with health anxiety. Regression analysis showed that both sense of coherence and e-health literacy significantly predicted the health anxiety, with e-health literacy having a stronger impact (β=-0.42, t=-7.89, P<0.001) compared to the sense of coherence (β=-0.43, t=-7.00, P<0.001). The model explained 22% of the variance in health anxiety (R²=0.20, F=4.89, P=0.003). Conclusion The sense of coherence and e-health literacy are significantly associated with health anxiety in older women. Enhancing the sense of coherence and e-health literacy may be effective in mitigating the health-related anxiety in older women.