The Development of E-health Literacy Indicators for Older Thai Adults in Adjusting to Live with the New Normal Lifestyle

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic severely affected people of all ages, particularly affecting how they adapted themselves to the new normal lifestyle. However, these effects were especially observed in the older adults. Subsequently, the purpose of this study was to develop e-health literacy indicators for older Thai adults in adjusting to live with the new normal lifestyle. In addition, this study collected data to empirically test the hypothesized model with e-health literacy indicators model for older Thai adults. Respondents of the study were 410 older Thai adults, living or working in Bangkok and its vicinity. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were performed to validate the factor structures obtained by EFA. These factor structures were validated through the first order of CFA;and the indicators and components found were 1) media and information literacy component, with 19 indicators;2) computer and social media literacy component, with 12 indicators;3) COVID-19 literacy component, with 9 indicators;4) healthcare literacy component, with 11 indicators;and 5) health risk literacy component, with 5 indicators. The second order of CFA proved that the e-health literacy indicators model had an acceptable fit with Chisquare/ df = 2.41, RMSEA = 0.06, GFI = 0.95, NFI = 0.99, CN = 204.13. These findings potentially contribute towards facilitating the ease of living for older Thai adults, capable of using social media literately on a daily basis while maintaining personal self-care standards in accordance with the recognized new normal guidelines. © Behavioral Science Research Institute