Internet use and e-health literacy among tuberculosis patients in the Directly Observed Therapy Centre, Lagos State, Nigeria

Abstract

Introduction. This study investigated Internet use and e-health literacy among tuberculosis patients attending Directly Observed Therapy Centre in Lagos State, Nigeria.

Method. The study population comprised registered adult tuberculosis patients on active treatment and assessing healthcare in the designated Directly Observed Therapy Centre. Data were collected using a questionnaire and e-health literacy was measured using the 8-item e-health literacy scale.

Analysis. Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation coefficient was used for the analysis.

Results. The findings of the study revealed that a majority (73.3%) of the respondents had mobile phone devices for accessing e-health information and acknowledged that the Internet is very useful to their health. However, many of them did not have the skills to evaluate the health resources found on the Internet and cannot differentiate high quality from low quality health resources. Hence many of the patients did not feel confident in using information sourced from the Internet. The result of the hypotheses shows that educational level was significantly associated with usefulness and perceived importance of online health information (r= 0.189, p=0.010).

Conclusion. The results showed the need to inculcate e-health literacy into the educational program of tuberculosis patients in the country, and how to evaluate online information as a reliable source of medical information.