The Relationship between eHealth literacy, physical activity, and sedentary behaviors among Chinese college students: A cross-sectional study
Refereed conference paper presented and published in conference proceedings
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AbstractBackground: eHealth literacy was used to evaluate skills in finding, accessing, and using health information online to enhance one’s level of knowledge, competence, and behavior in relation to a healthy lifestyle. Previous studies have shown that promoting eHealth literacy can facilitate healthy behaviors, such as nutrition and sleep. However, there’s an unclear correlation between college students' eHealth literacy and physical activity (PA) or sedentary behavior (SB), and few research has investigated the moderating effect of individual factors.
Purpose: This study was to examine the relationship between eHealth literacy, PA, and SB among college students with majors in health (Chinese medicine, sports science) and non-health (science, social science).
Methods: A snowball sampling method was adopted to recruit 1210 students to complete questionnaire surveys online. Individual factors (e.g., gender, university major, age, education level, birthplace), International Physical Activity Questionnaire - Short Form, and Chinese version of the eHealth Literacy Scale were assessed. A path analysis was conducted using Mplus 8.3 to determine correlations between eHealth literacy, PA, and SB with a potential influence of individual factors.
Results: 1124 participants, aged 18 to 28 (male: 56.58%), responded to survey with a response rate of 93%. The mean eHealth literacy score was 32.63 (SD 6.40), and scores differed significantly with major. 22% of young adults were physically inactive without adherence to WHO guidelines, and male college students had higher PA and lower SB than females (p<.001).
A path analysis showed that the total effects of eHealth literacy on walking were 0.1, 0.15 on moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and -0.08 on SB. There was a correlation between PA and SB (β=-0.18, p<.001). Higher eHealth literacy predicted students' MVPA for social science (β=0.28, p<.01) and science students (β =0.15, p<.01) significantly. But there’s no significance of the relationship of eHealth literacy, MVPA, and SB in health-related majors.
Conclusions: College students with higher eHealth literacy were more active and less sedentary. Majors and gender were associated with eHealth literacy and PA. Hence, more health education programs at universities are needed for non-health majors and female students.
Purpose: This study was to examine the relationship between eHealth literacy, PA, and SB among college students with majors in health (Chinese medicine, sports science) and non-health (science, social science).
Methods: A snowball sampling method was adopted to recruit 1210 students to complete questionnaire surveys online. Individual factors (e.g., gender, university major, age, education level, birthplace), International Physical Activity Questionnaire - Short Form, and Chinese version of the eHealth Literacy Scale were assessed. A path analysis was conducted using Mplus 8.3 to determine correlations between eHealth literacy, PA, and SB with a potential influence of individual factors.
Results: 1124 participants, aged 18 to 28 (male: 56.58%), responded to survey with a response rate of 93%. The mean eHealth literacy score was 32.63 (SD 6.40), and scores differed significantly with major. 22% of young adults were physically inactive without adherence to WHO guidelines, and male college students had higher PA and lower SB than females (p<.001).
A path analysis showed that the total effects of eHealth literacy on walking were 0.1, 0.15 on moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and -0.08 on SB. There was a correlation between PA and SB (β=-0.18, p<.001). Higher eHealth literacy predicted students' MVPA for social science (β=0.28, p<.01) and science students (β =0.15, p<.01) significantly. But there’s no significance of the relationship of eHealth literacy, MVPA, and SB in health-related majors.
Conclusions: College students with higher eHealth literacy were more active and less sedentary. Majors and gender were associated with eHealth literacy and PA. Hence, more health education programs at universities are needed for non-health majors and female students.
Acceptance Date25/02/2023
All Author(s) ListJiang S, Ha AS
Name of ConferenceInternational Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (ISBNPA) 2023 Annual Meeting
Start Date of Conference14/06/2023
End Date of Conference17/06/2023
Place of ConferenceUppsala, Sweden
Country/Region of ConferenceSweden
Year2023
LanguagesEnglish-United States
KeywordseHealth literacy, physical activity, sedentary behavior
