Open AccessVirtual Disparities and Educational Divide as Determinants of Online Health Literacy: A Cross-sectional Study of University Students in Lahore
Author(s) -
Adnan Adil,
Ayesha Siddiqa Bugvi,
Rahla Rahat
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
global social sciences review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2616-793X
pISSN - 2520-0348
DOI - 10.31703/gssr.2022(vii-i).03
Subject(s) - cluster sampling , competence (human resources) , health literacy , medical education , cross sectional study , literacy , psychology , test (biology) , mathematics education , medicine , pedagogy , environmental health , health care , population , political science , social psychology , paleontology , pathology , law , biology
The study assumes that students belonging to diverse educational levels were dissimilar in the level of practicing and competence in online health literacy. The survey method used a questionnaire to measure the responses of students of 16 universities in Lahore, Pakistan. A sample of 1512 students was selected by using a 4-stage stratified cluster sampling strategy. Data were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis H test, Dunn test, and Mann-Whitney Utest (non-parametric). The findings show that educational level does have a significant association with practicing level in online health literacy (P.Value.0041). Moreover, education level also has a significant association with competence level in online health literacy (P. Value.045). The study recommends that online health literacy should be encouraged among the students, and the universities should be well-equipped with adequate hardware and human resources to facilitate the students.