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. 2022 Jul 8;19(14):8365.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19148365.

eHealth Literacy in German Skin Cancer Patients

Henner Stege  1 , Sara Schneider  1 , Andrea Forschner  2 , Thomas Eigentler  3 , Dorothée Nashan  4 , Svea Huening  4 , Frank Meiss  5 , Saskia Lehr  5 , Martin Kaatz  6 , Robert Kuchen  7 , Katharina C Kaehler  8 , Maximilian Haist  1 , Jutta Huebner  9 , Carmen Loquai  1
Affiliations

eHealth Literacy in German Skin Cancer Patients

Henner Stege et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The global incidence of skin cancer has steadily increased in recent years, and malignant melanoma still has one of the fastest-growing incidence rates among all malignant tumors in the western world. Thus, newly diagnosed patients have an increased need for health information concerning their disease. Using a standardized questionnaire, our study aims to investigate our patients' primary sources of health-related information as well as their self-proclaimed eHealth literacy. We received 714 questionnaires. Regardless of age, the primary source of information was the treating dermato-oncologist, followed by the treating general practitioner and the Internet. However, with increasing age, the usage of the Internet decreased. Hence, younger participants were better equipped to find health-related information while using the Internet. Additionally, comprehending health-related information and gaining medical knowledge was significantly increased in better-educated participants. Overall, our study shows that with increased use of eHealth services, accessing web-based information increased, correlating with a better eHealth literacy of our patients. eHealth technologies are increasingly becoming more prevalent as a primary source of information in our modern health care system. Thus, it is crucial to educate cancer patients in eHealth literacy to make autonomous, informed decisions and gain more confidence in dealing with their disease.

Keywords: eHealth; eHealth literacy; health-related information; skin cancer.

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Conflict of interest statement

H.S., S.S., M.H., R.K., M.K., S.L., J.H., S.H. and T.E. declare no conflict of interest. K.C.K. has served as a consultant or/and has received honoraria from Amgen, Roche, Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck Sharp and Dohme, Pierre Fabre, and Novartis, and received travel support from Amgen, Merck Sharp and Dohme, Bristol Myers Squibb, Amgen, Pierre Fabre and Novartis. AF served as a consultant to Roche, Novartis, MSD, BMS, Pierre-Fabre, received travel support from Roche, Novartis, BMS, Pierre-Fabre, and received speaker fees from Roche, Novartis, BMS, MSD, and CeGaT, outside of the submitted work. She reports institutional research grants from BMS Stiftung Immunonkologie outside of the submitted work. F.M. has received travel support or/and speaker’s fees or/and advisor’s honoraria by Novartis, Roche, BMS, MSD, and Pierre Fabre and research funding from Novartis and Roche. D.D. declares speakers and advisory board Honoria and/or travel support from BMS, MSD, Novartis, Pierre Fabre and Roche outside the submitted work. D.N. served as consultant and paid referee to MSD, BMS, Novartis, Roche, Almirall Hermal, Mylan and Sanofi outside the submitted work. C.L. declares speakers, advisory board honoraria and travel support from Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck Sharp and Dohme, Merck Serono, Novartis, Roche, Pierre Fabre, Sun Pharma, Kiowa Kirin, Sanofi, Biontech, and Almirall Hermal outside of the submitted work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Age-related difference in the use of primary information. Older participants received information significantly more often from their dermato-oncologist and general practitioner. Abbreviations: * p < 0.05.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Frequency of Internet use. Descriptive bar chart showing the frequency of Internet use in our cohort. Most of the participants (<65%) reported frequent Internet usage. Nonetheless, 19.24% (n = 132) of the participants never use the Internet.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Internet use depending on the level of education. Younger patients and patients with a higher level of education more frequently used the Internet (p = 0.05). Abbreviations: * p < 0.05.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Use of eHealth offers and services. Total number of participants using eHealth offers and services categorized by the different outlets.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Comprehension of health-related information: We noticed a decreasing arithmetic mean value with increasing age of the participants. Additionally, the ability to comprehend health-related information was statistically significant in patients with higher levels of education. Abbreviations: * p < 0.05.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Decision making based on eHealth literacy: In general, older participants were more certain when making a decision based on health-related information from the Internet. Similarly, participants with higher education levels were more certain in their decision-making process. Abbreviations: * p < 0.05.
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