eHealth Literacy and Knowledge of Social Health Financing Among Undergraduate Healthcare Students in Kenya

TL;DR

This study explores the link between eHealth literacy and knowledge of social health insurance among healthcare students in Kenya.

Contribution

The study identifies eHealth literacy as a significant predictor of SHA/SHIF knowledge among healthcare students.

Findings

Only 54% of students had high eHealth literacy, and 21.7% had high SHA/SHIF knowledge.

High eHealth literacy was strongly associated with SHA/SHIF knowledge (OR = 6.2).

Students in nursing and public health had better SHA/SHIF knowledge than MBChB students.

Abstract

Low rates of actively contributing to the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) under the Social Health Authority (SHA) could be due to health insurance knowledge inadequacies, possibly because of poor electronic health (eHealth) literacy. This study assesses whether eHealth literacy is associated with SHA/SHIF knowledge among undergraduate healthcare students in Kenya. An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted using the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS) and an adapted Kaiser Family Foundation quiz. A total of 207 students in mainly six health-related academic programs in 21 institutions of higher learning in Kenya responded to the online survey. Only 54% and 21.7% of the participants had high (median ≥ 4 out of 5) levels of eHealth literacy and knowledge of SHA/SHIF, respectively. About 9.2% of the students had never heard of SHA/SHIF. Only high eHealth literacy compared to low eHealth literacy (OR = 6.2, p < 0.0001) and pursuing nursing, public health, and other programs compared to pursuing Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) (OR = 4.9–5.1, p = 0.01–0.03) significantly predicted SHA/SHIF knowledge. Thus, eHealth literacy levels and SHA/SHIF knowledge require improvement among undergraduate healthcare students in Kenya to prepare them as SHA ambassadors in their communities.

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