gms | German Medical Science

Objective: Digital technologies with internet access, including computers or mobile devices, can contribute to health promotion and disease prevention. This study aimed to compare the results of two nationwide surveys of internet users in Germany that investigated the use pattern, the attitudes towards, and the factors associated with digital technology use in health context.

Methods: This study adheres to the ethical guidelines according to the Declaration of Helsinki. Two cross-sectional surveys of internet users living in Germany were performed in 2020 (survey 1) and 2022 (survey 2). Participants were recruited from two different consumer panel samples owned by a market research institute (Cerner Enviza GmbH). Participants provided verbal informed consent for participation in the study according to the Cerner Enviza data privacy policy. Computer-assisted telephone interviews were conducted by Cerner Enviza using questionnaires with 28-30 items developed by study authors. Anonymous data were purchased and analysed by study authors using descriptive statistics. Associations between digital technology use and participant characteristics were tested using binary logistic regression analyses.

Results: The participants were adult internet users (survey 1: n=991; survey 2: n=1020). Participant characteristics were similar in both surveys (47-52% female, 50-55% aged 40-65 years, 62-66% with less than tertiary education, 42-45% with less than country-average household income, 81-82% residents in former West Germany, and 67-71% residents in large cities). A similar number of participants in both surveys reported digital technology use in any health context (57-61%) and rated digital technologies for physical activity promotion as easy to use (87-92%). Digital technology use increased in 2022 relative to 2020. Specifically, more participants reported health app (63% vs. 36%) and digital technology use for physical activity promotion (any use: 44% vs. 31%; weekly-daily use: 91% vs. 64%) in 2022 vs. 2020. In contrast, digital health literacy decreased in 2022 relative to 2020. Specifically, less participants had high digital health literacy (57% vs. 69%) and were confident in using online information for health decisions (34% vs. 43%) in 2022 vs. 2020. Digital technology use was associated with higher digital health literacy and younger age (in both surveys), higher income (in survey 1) and residence in larger cities (in survey 2).

Conclusion: Digital technologies targeting some health domains, such as physical activity promotion are frequently used and accepted by the users. However, digital health literacy and especially the confidence in using online information for health decisions appear to have decreased in 2022 relative to 2020. Factors that promote digital technology use for health promotion and disease prevention need to be investigated in future studies. Considering that digital health literacy is associated with digital technology use, further research on user needs and preferences is required to understand the reasons for reduction in such literacy in this study.

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

The authors declare that an ethics committee vote is not required.