CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 548Health Literacy and Information AccessibilitySocial Media in Health EducationMedia Influence and Health

Health Literacy and Use and Trust in Health Information.

Open access
Chen, Xuewei, Hay, Jennifer L., Waters, Erika A., Kiviniemi, Marc T., Biddle, Caitlin, Schofield, Elizabeth, Li, Yuelin, Kaphingst, Kimberly +1 more·2018·Journal of Health Communication
DOI 10.1080/10810730.2018.1511658PMC PMC6295319
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

There is a need to investigate which health information sources are used and trusted by people with limited health literacy to help identify strategies for addressing knowledge gaps that can contribute to preventable illness. We examined whether health literacy was associated with people's use of and trust in a range of potential health information sources. Six hundred participants from a GfK Internet survey panel completed an online survey. We assessed health literacy using the Newest Vital Sign, the sources participants used to get health information, and the extent to which participants trusted health information from these sources. We performed multivariable regressions, controlling for demographic characteristics. Lower health literacy was associated with lower odds of using medical websites for health information and with higher odds of using television, social media, and blogs or celebrity webpages. People with lower health literacy were less likely to trust health information from specialist doctors and dentists, but more likely to trust television, social media, blogs/celebrity webpages, friends, and pharmaceutical companies. People with limited health literacy had higher rates of using and trusting sources such as social media and blogs, which might contain lower quality health information compared to information from healthcare professionals. Thus, it might be necessary to enhance the public's ability to evaluate the quality of health information sources. The results of this study could be used to improve the reach of high-quality health information among people with limited health literacy and thereby increase the effectiveness of health communication programs and campaigns.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1080/10810730.2018.1511658

Cites

8 of 8 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 73

  1. Alas A, Sajadi KP, Goldman HB, & Anger JT (2013). The rapidly increasing usefulness of social media in urogynecology. Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery, 19(4), 210– 213. 23797519
  2. Amuta AO, Chen X, & Mkuu R (2017). The Effect of cancer information seeking on perceptions of cancer risks, fatalism, and worry among a US national sample. American Journal of Health Education, 1– 8.
  3. Atique S, Hosueh M, Fernandez-Luque L, Gabarron E, Wan M, Singh O,... & Shabbir SA (2016, 8). Lessons learnt from a MOOC about social media for digital health literacy. In Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2016 IEEE 38th Annual International Conference of the (pp. 5636– 5639). IEEE. 28269533
  4. Baker DW (2006). The meaning and measure of health literacy. Journal of General Interna Medicine, 21, 878– 883. PMC1831571 16881951
  5. Benigeri M, & Pluye P (2003). Shortcomings of health information on the Internet. Health Promotion International, 18(4), 381– 386. 14695369
  6. Benotsch EG, Kalichman S, & Weinhardt LS (2004). HIV-AIDS patients’ evaluation of health information on the Internet: The digital divide and vulnerability to fraudulent claims. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 72(6), 1004. 15612847
  7. Berkman ND, Sheridan SL, Donahue KE, Halpern DJ, & Crotty K (2011). Low health literacy and health outcomes: an updated systematic review. Annals of Internal Medicine, 155(2), 97– 107. 21768583
  8. Boulos MNK, Maramba I, & Wheeler S (2006). Wikis, blogs and podcasts: A new generation of Web-based tools for virtual collaborative clinical practice and education. BMC Medical Education, 6(1), 41. 16911779 PMC1564136
  9. Brashers DE, Goldsmith DJ, & Hsieh E (2002). Information seeking and avoiding in health contexts. Human Communication Research, 28(2), 258– 271.
  10. Chisolm DJ, Hardin DS, McCoy KS, Johnson LD, McAlearney AS, & Gardner W (2011). Health literacy and willingness to use online health information by teens with asthma and diabetes. Telemedicine and E-Health, 17(9), 676– 682. 21943161 PMC3241926
  11. Chen X, Acosta S, & Barry AE (2016). Evaluating the accuracy of Google Translate for diabetes education material. Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) Diabetes, 1(1), e3. PMC6238856 30291056
  12. Chen X, Acosta S, & Barry AE (2017). Machine or human? Evaluating a language translation mobile app for diabetes patients. Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) Diabetes, 2(1), e13. PMC6238892 30291084
  13. Clayman ML, Manganello JA, Viswanath K, Hesse BW, & Arora NK (2010). Providing health messages to Hispanics/Latinos: understanding the importance of language, trust in health information sources, and media use. Journal of Health Communication, 15(sup3), 252– 263. 21154097 PMC3230575
  14. Cutilli CC, Simko LC, Colbert AM, & Bennett IM (2018). Health Literacy, Health Disparities, and Sources of Health Information in US Older Adults. Orthopaedic Nursing, 37(1), 54– 65. 29369135
  15. Egbert N, & Nanna KM (2009). Health literacy: Challenges and strategies. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 14(3). doi: 10.3912/OJIN.Vol14No03Man01 · DOI
  16. Fagnano M, Halterman JS, Conn KM, & Shone LP (2012). Health literacy and sources of health information for caregivers of urban children with asthma. Clinical Pediatrics, 51(3), 267– 273. 21911409 PMC3295538
  17. Freudenberg N (2012). The manufacture of lifestyle: The role of corporations in unhealthy living. Journal of Public Health Policy, 33(2), 244– 256. 22258282
  18. Freudenberg N (2014). Lethal but legal: Corporations, consumption, and protecting public health. Oxford University Press.
  19. Gaglio B, Glasgow RE, & Bull SS (2012). Do patient preferences for health information vary by health literacy or numeracy? A qualitative assessment. Journal of Health Communication, 17(sup3), 109– 121. 23030565
  20. Geana MV, Greiner KA, Cully A, Talawyma M, & Daley CM (2012). Improving health promotion to American Indians in the Midwest United States: Preferred sources of health information and its use for the medical encounter. Journal of Community Health, 37(6), 1253– 1263. 22477671 PMC4049568
  21. Ghaddar SF, Valerio MA, Garcia CM, & Hansen L (2012). Adolescent health literacy: the importance of credible sources for online health information. Journal of School Health, 82(1), 28– 36. 22142172
  22. Gibbons MC, Fleisher L, Slamon RE, Bass S, Kandadai V, & Beck JR (2011). Exploring the potential of Web 2.0 to address health disparities. Journal of Health Communication, 16(sup1), 77– 89. 21843097
  23. Grohol JM, Slimowicz J, & Granda R (2014). The quality of mental health information commonly searched for on the Internet. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 17(4), 216– 221. 24237287
  24. Guan Y, Maloney KA, Roter DL, & Pollin TI (2017). Evaluation of the informational content, readability and comprehensibility of online health information on monogenic diabetes. Journal of Genetic Counseling, 1– 8. PMC5869070 28951986
  25. Gupta C, Bell SP, Schildcrout JS, Fletcher S, Goggins KM, Kripalani S, & for the Vanderbilt Inpatient Cohort Study (VICS). (2014). Predictors of health care system and physician distrust in hospitalized cardiac patients. Journal of Health Communication, 19(sup2), 44– 60. 25315583 PMC4318514
  26. Hayes AF 2013 Introduction to mediation, moderation and conditional process analysis. New York, New York: Guilford Press.
  27. Haun JN, Valerio MA, McCormack LA, Sørensen K, & Paasche-Orlow MK (2014). Health literacy measurement: an inventory and descriptive summary of 51 instruments. Journal of Health Communication, 19(sup2), 302– 333. 25315600
  28. Hoedebecke K, Beaman L, Mugambi J, Shah S, Mohasseb M, Vetter C,... & Couvillon E (2017). Health care and social media: What patients really understand. F1000Research, 6. PMC5381615 28435666
  29. Jacobs W, Amuta AO, & Jeon KC (2017). Health information seeking in the digital age: An analysis of health information seeking behavior among US adults. Cogent Social Sciences, 3(1), 1302785.
  30. Kandula NR, Nsiah-Kumi PA, Makoul G, Sager J, Zei CP, Glass S,... & Baker DW (2009). The relationship between health literacy and knowledge improvement after a multimedia type 2 diabetes education program. Patient Education and Counseling, 75(3), 321– 327. 19395223
  31. Kelley MS, Su D, & Britigan DH (2016). Disparities in health information access: results of a county-wide survey and implications for health communication. Health Communication, 31(5), 575– 582. 26452300
  32. Kim H, & Xie B (2017). Health literacy in the eHealth era: A systematic review of the literature. Patient Education and Counseling, 100(6), 1073– 1082. 28174067
  33. Knapp C, Madden V, Marcu M, Wang H, Curtis C, Sloyer P, & Shenkman E (2011). Information seeking behaviors of parents whose children have life‐threatening illnesses. Pediatric Blood & Cancer, 56(5), 805– 811. 21370415
  34. Koo M, Krass I, & Aslani P (2006). Enhancing patient education about medicines: Factors influencing reading and seeking of written medicine information. Health Expectations, 9, 174– 187. 16677196 PMC5060343
  35. Korda H, & Itani Z (2013). Harnessing social media for health promotion and behavior change. Health Promotion Practice, 14(1), 15– 23. 21558472
  36. Kripalani S, & Weiss BD (2006). Teaching about health literacy and clear communication. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 21(8), 888– 890. 16881953 PMC1831575
  37. Lau AY, Gabarron E, Fernandez-Luque L, & Armayones M (2012). Social media in health—What are the safety concerns for health consumers? Health Information Management Journal, 41(2), 30– 35. 23705132
  38. Learmonth YC, Adamson BC, Balto JM, Chiu C, Molina‐Guzman I, Finlayson M, Motl RW (2017). Multiple sclerosis patients need and want information on exercise promotion from healthcare providers: A qualitative study. Health Expectations, 20(4), 574– 583. 27436592 PMC5513010
  39. Lee HH, Yang TT, & Tsai CH (2012). To explore the social psychological factors influencing outcomes of health websites. Advanced Science Letters, 13(1), 774– 779.
  40. Lemire M, Paré G, Sicotte C, & Harvey C (2008). Determinants of Internet use as a preferred source of information on personal health. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 77(11), 723– 734. 18434246
  41. Liu JM, Xu RX, Hu YS, Ren LK, Qiao H, Ding H, & Liu ZL (2015). Chinese Internet Searches Provide Inaccurate and Misleading Information to Epilepsy Patients. Chinese Medical Journal, 128(24), 3324. 26668147 PMC4797508
  42. Livaudais-Toman J, Burke NJ, Napoles A, & Kaplan CP (2014). Health literate organizations: Are clinical trial sites equipped to recruit minority and limited health literacy patients? Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice, 7(4), 1. PMC4540367 26295011
  43. Logan RA, & Siegel ER (Eds.). (2017). Health Literacy: New Directions in Research, Theory and Practice (Vol. 240). IOS Press.
  44. Lubetkin EI, Zabor EC, Isaac K, Brennessel D, Kemeny MM, & Hay JL (2015). Health literacy, information seeking, and trust in information in Haitians. American Journal of Health Behavior, 39(3), 441– 450. 25741688 PMC4496799
  45. Manganello JA (2007). Health literacy and adolescents: A framework and agenda for future research. Health Education Research, 23(5), 840– 847. 18024979
  46. McCleary-Jones V, Scheideman-Miller C, Dorn James A Jr, EdD., Johnson B R.N., Overall Mary M.S.N., B.S., & Dwyer Kathleen PhD., R.N. (2013). Health information technology use and health literacy among community-dwelling African Americans. ABNF Journal, 24(1), 10– 6. 23589966
  47. Napolitano MA, Hayes S, Bennett GG, Ives AK, & Foster GD (2013). Using Facebook and text messaging to deliver a weight loss program to college students. Obesity, 21(1), 25– 31. 23505165
  48. Norman CD, & Skinner HA (2006). eHealth literacy: Essential skills for consumer health in a networked world. Journal of medical Internet research, 8(2): e9. 16867972 PMC1550701
  49. Nutbeam D (2000). Health literacy as a public health goal: A challenge for contemporary health education and communication strategies into the 21st century. Health Promotion International, 15(3), 259– 267.
  50. Nutbeam D (2008). The evolving concept of health literacy. Social science & medicine, 67(12), 2072– 2078. 18952344
  51. Paasche-Orlow MK, & Wolf MS (2007). The causal pathways linking health literacy to health outcomes. American Journal of Health Behavior, 31(1), S19– S26. 17931132
  52. Paige SR, Krieger JL, & Stellefson ML (2017). The influence of eHealth literacy on perceived trust in online health communication channels and sources. Journal of Health Communication, 22(1), 53– 65. 28001489 PMC5551054
  53. Park H, Rodgers S, & Stemmle J (2013). Analyzing health organizations’ use of Twitter for promoting health literacy. Journal of Health Communication, 18(4), 410– 425. 23294265
  54. Parker RM, Baker DW, Williams MV, & Nurss JR (1995). The test of functional health literacy in adults. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 10(10), 537– 541. 8576769
  55. Poínhos R, Oliveira BM, van der Lans IA, Fischer AR, Berezowska A, Rankin A,... & de Almeida MD (2017). Providing personalized nutrition: Consumers’ trust and preferences regarding sources of information, service providers and regulators, and communication channels. Public Health Genomics. 29050032
  56. Schillinger D, Piette J, Grumbach K, Wang F, Wilson C, Daher C,... & Bindman AB (2003). Closing the loop: physician communication with diabetic patients who have low health literacy. Archives of Internal Medicine, 163(1), 83– 90. 12523921
  57. Shealy KM, & Threatt TB (2016). Utilization of the newest vital sign (NVS) in practice in the United States. Health Communication, 31(6), 679– 687. 26507669
  58. Sheng X, & Simpson PM (2013). Seniors, health information, and the Internet: motivation, ability, and Internet knowledge. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 16(10), 740– 746. 23679569
  59. Sheng X, & Simpson PM (2015). Health care information seeking and seniors: Determinants of Internet use. Health Marketing Quarterly, 32(1), 96– 112. 25751321
  60. Shieh C, Mays R, McDaniel A, & Yu J (2009). Health literacy and its association with the use of information sources and with barriers to information seeking in clinic-based pregnant women. Health Care for Women International, 30(11), 971– 988. 19809901
  61. Sørensen K, Van den Broucke S, Fullam J, Doyle G, Pelikan J, Slonska Z, & Brand H (2012). Health literacy and public health: A systematic review and integration of definitions and models. BMC Public Health, 12(1), 80. 22276600 PMC3292515
  62. Smit AK, Keogh LA, Newson AJ, Butow PN, Dunlop K, Morton RL,... & Cust (2017). Does personalised melanoma genomic risk information trigger conversations about skin cancer prevention and skin examination with family, friends and health professionals? British Journal of Dermatology, 177, 779– 790. 28627002
  63. Squiers L, Peinado S, Berkman N, Boudewyns V, & McCormack L (2012). The health literacy skills framework. Journal of Health Communication, 17(sup3), 30– 54. 23030560
  64. Syed-Abdul S, Fernandez-Luque L, Jian WS, Li YC, Crain S, Hsu MH,... & Liou DM (2013). Misleading health-related information promoted through video-based social media: anorexia on YouTube. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 15(2), e30. 23406655 PMC3636813
  65. Tirlapur SA, Leiu C, & Khan KS (2013). Quality of information on the Internet related to bladder pain syndrome: A systematic review of the evidence. International Urogynecology Journal, 24(8), 1257– 1262. 23604231
  66. Toci E, Burazeri G, Jerliu N, Sørensen K, Ramadani N, Hysa B, & Brand H (2014). Health literacy, self-perceived health and self-reported chronic morbidity among older people in Kosovo. Health Promotion International, 30(3), 667– 674. 24604915
  67. Wångdahl J, Lytsy P, Mårtensson L, & Westerling R (2015). Health literacy and refugees’ experiences of the health examination for asylum seekers–a Swedish cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health, 15(1), 1162. 26596793 PMC4657287
  68. Weiss BD, Mays MZ, Martz W, Castro KM, DeWalt DA, Pignone MP,... & Hale FA (2005). Quick assessment of literacy in primary care: the newest vital sign. The Annals of Family Medicine, 3(6), 514– 522. 16338915 PMC1466931
  69. Weiss BD, Reed RL, & Kligman EW (1995). Literacy skills and communication methods of low-income older persons. Patient Education and Counseling, 25(2), 109– 119. 7659623
  70. Wilson TD (2000). Human information behavior. Informing Science, 3(2), 49– 56.
  71. Wu JR, Holmes GM, DeWalt DA, Macabasco-O’Connell A, Bibbins-Domingo K, Ruo B,... & Erman B (2013). Low literacy is associated with increased risk of hospitalization and death among individuals with heart failure. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 28(9), 1174– 1180. 23478997 PMC3744307
  72. Xie B (2011). Effects of an eHealth literacy intervention for older adults. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 13(4): e90. 22052161 PMC3222191
  73. Zoellner J, Connell C, Bounds W, Crook L, & Yadrick K (2009). Peer reviewed: nutrition literacy status and preferred nutrition communication channels among adults in the lower Mississippi Delta. Preventing Chronic Disease, 6(4): A128. 19755004 PMC2774642

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Chen, X., Hay, J. L., Waters, E. A., Kiviniemi, M. T., Biddle, C., Schofield, E., Li, Y., Kaphingst, K., & Orom, H.
Affiliations
  • University at Buffalo, State University of New York (US)
  • Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (US)
  • Washington University in St. Louis (US)
  • University of Utah (US)
Corresponding author
Chen, Xuewei
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Health Communication
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2018-08-03
Volume
23
Issue
8
Pages
724-734
ISSN
  • 1081-0730 (ISSN-L)
  • 1087-0415
DOI
10.1080/10810730.2018.1511658
PMC
PMC6295319
OpenAlex
W2888837094
Cited by
548
References
8
Citations by year
2026: 71 · 2025: 122 · 2024: 91 · 2023: 85 · 2022: 94 · 2021: 54 · 2020: 25 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 1
FWCI
31.02
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Health Communication (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • SHAREOK (University of Oklahoma; Oklahoma State University; Central Oklahoma University) (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
  • SHAREOK (University of Oklahoma; Oklahoma State University; Central Oklahoma University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
National Cancer Institute (R01CA197351)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Literacy and Information Accessibility
  • Social Sciences › Health › Social Media in Health Education
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Literature and Literary Theory › Media Influence and Health
Keywords
health literacy, health information sources, trust in health information, social media, blogs, television health information, medical websites, pharmaceutical companies, Newest Vital Sign, health communication, health information quality
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Trust, Consumer Health Information, Young Adult, Health Literacy

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review