Abstract:

Today, individuals are increasingly turning to the internet to learn about health and healthcare. The fact that the internet has become an important channel for health information resource has brought the concept of eHealth literacy to the agenda. During the 2000s, in line with developments in informatics, was born the concept of e-Health with a variety of health services offered online. In this context, the e-Nabız personal health record system, where individuals can manage their health data and access their medical resumes from a single source, has been put into service by the Ministry of Health in Turkey. The main purpose of this study is to examine the effects of individuals' e-Health literacy levels on their perceptions of the use of the e-Nabız system, and to determine whether some socio-demographic characteristics make a difference on individuals' perceptions of eHealth literacy and the use of the e-Nabız system. The population of the research consists of all individuals over the age of 18 who live in Ankara and use the e-Nabız system. Between the months of May (2021) 451 online questionnaires were obtained, which could be evaluated using the convenience sampling method. The data obtained from the research were evaluated in the SPSS 23.00 package program. Parametric tests (t test and oneway analysis of variance [ANOVA]) were applied due to the normal distribution of the data. In addition, simple linear regression analysis was performed to determine the effect of e-Health literacy on e-Nabız usage. About three-quarters (73.6%) of the individuals participating in the research think that the internet is useful in helping them when making decisions about their health and accessing health resources on the internet is important for approximately four out of every five participants (82.5%). It is seen that the e-Health literacy level of the individuals participating in the research is at a medium level (3.76±0.67), and their perceptions of the use of the e-Nabız system are at medium-high level (3.95±0.57). It was determined that married participants and those with higher incomes had higher e-Health literacy levels (p<0.05). It is seen that as the education level increases, the e-Health literacy level also increases (p<0.05). In addition, the perceptions of those aged 46 and above regarding the use of the e-Nabız system were observed to be lower than the participants in the other age range (p<0.05). The increase in the e-Health literacy level increases the perception towards the use of the e-Nabız system (b=0.252; p<0.001). It is possible to say that a high level of e-Health literacy can positively affect the perception of the use of e-Health applications. 

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