E-health literacy is the ability to find, understand and evaluate health information from the Internet and to use the acquired knowledge to solve health-related problems. The Internet is considered one of the most important sources of health information. At the same time, it can also contain a lot of unverified, incorrect and even potentially dangerous information, which is why e-health literacy is of great importance. The aim of this master thesis was to investigate the level of e-health literacy on a sample of Slovenian residents with diabetes to find out how they search for health-related information on the Internet. We assessed e-health literacy using the eHEALS-E questionnaire, which has already been translated into Slovenian and validated. It consists of 32 items with Likert response scale. We sent the questionnaire by post mail through the Faculty of Pharmacy to 1870 members of the Slovenian Diabetes Association. After two months, we received back 804 returned questionnaires. 337 returned questionnaires were not suitable for further analysis because the respondents did not meet the criteria for completing the questionnaire. Thus, we received 468 responses suitable for analysis, representing a 25 % response rate; 57,7 % of the respondents were women, and the mean age was 68 years. First, we checked the validity of the 6-dimensional structure of the questionnaire using confirmatory factor analysis and then processed the data using descriptive statistics methods to obtain an overview of the percentage and frequency structure of the responses according to each item or factor. Recognizing quality and meaning and understanding information seem to be the least prominent factors of the eHEALS-E questionnaire, which means that the respondents have the most problems with recognizing quality and meaning of health information from the Internet and understanding it. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to test the influence of sociodemographic variables on e-health literacy. The following sociodemographic variables had a statistically significant impact on e-health literacy: age, region, income, type of diabetes and current health status. Older people showed lower e-health literacy. Individuals from the Koroška, Savinjska and Goriška regions had lower e-health literacy than individuals from the Podravska region. Lower income predicted lower e-health literacy. Respondents with type 1 diabetes showed better e-health literacy. The higher the self-assessment of current health status, the higher the e-health literacy. To conclude, it would be reasonable to consider strategies for the implementation of competence-based education for patients with diabetes, especially regarding the recognition of the quality and meaning of information when searching for health information on the Internet. Special attention should be paid to elderly patients, patients with a lower income and type 2 diabetes.
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