ArticleHealth literacy research and practice2025
Ability to Utilize Digital Health Services: Validation of the Digital HealthCare Scale in Adolescents and Young Adults.
Article in Health literacy research and practice, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Enhancing patient knowledge and behaviour through digital health communication: a systematic review and random-effects meta-analysis of mobile, web-based, social media, telehealth, and AI-enabled interventions.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- Digital Outpatient Care for Patients With Type 1 Diabetes (DigiDiaS): Pragmatic Observational Pre-Post Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Observational
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWhile adolescents and young adults are increasingly expected to take more responsibility for their health and wellbeing, continuing digital transformation and increased implementation of digital health services (DHS) demand skills to utilize digital solutions offered to successfully undertake self-care and self-management. However, research is lacking regarding measurement of adolescents' and young adults' "ability to utilize DHS" (or "DHC").
objectiveThis study aims to measure young people's DHC by (1) validating the Digital HealthCare Scale (DHC scale) in adolescents and in young adults and (2) exploring the extent to which DHC and digital health literacy (DHL) are associated with the number of general practitioner, emergency, or specialist visits.
methodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted among 890 Norwegian adolescents and young adults age 16 to 25 years. Data were collected from April 2020 to October 2020 using computer-assisted telephone interviewing. Rasch modeling, independent samples KEY
resultsThe DHC scale is considered valid for measuring DHC in adolescents and young adults, showing sufficient unidimensionality, good overall data-model fit, and no disordered response categories nor differential item functioning. Results showed that female participants and adolescents age 16 to 20 years self-reported significantly lower DHL and DHC than male participants and young adults age 21 to 25 years. Regression analyses displayed a statistically significant association between adolescents' and young adults' DHL (
conclusionsAligned with previous research calling for new up-to-date instruments to measure the new aspects of DHL, our study has introduced a new measurement scale (DHC scale) for use among adolescents and young adults. This scale may be useful for health authorities, public health workers, and health providers in evaluating and adapting DHC. [
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