Abstract:

Health and digital health literacy are recognized as essential prerequisites for comprehending and utilizing health-related information effectively. Health misinformation undermines public health, particularly in digital environments where cognitive biases—such as confirmation bias and anchoring—compromise informational resilience.

To address these challenges, this study posed three research questions:
1. How easily do you find health information online?
2. How do you evaluate the reliability of online health advice?
3. How often do you doubt online health information?

The study involved 100 residents of Koprivnica, Croatia. Results from an adapted eHEALS questionnaire, utilizing a 5-point Likert scale (1 = very difficult/never to 5 = very easy/always), revealed moderate access to online health information (M = 3.4, SD = 1.1), weak evaluation skills (M = 2.9, SD = 1.2), and excessive skepticism (M = 3.2, SD = 1.0). These findings indicate vulnerability to confirmation bias and excessive exposure to misinformation.

The purpose of this research, grounded in responses to these three eHEALS-derived questions, was to identify key dimensions of digital health literacy—namely access, evaluation, and skepticism towards online health information—in order to pinpoint weaknesses in informational resilience and propose targeted interventions for improvement.

Keywords:

Digital health literacy, eHEALS scale, health misinformation, confirmation bias, online health information, Koprivnica, Croatia, cognitive biases.