A cross-sectional study of community-dwelling older adults in Taiwan examined eHealth literacy as a mediator between educational attainment, perceived physical health, and engagement in preventive health behaviors. The findings position the ability to locate, evaluate, and apply online health information as a modifiable pathway linking social and educational background to whether older adults actually act on prevention. Capability to interpret information, rather than access alone, appears central to sustained preventive practice.
Key Points
- eHealth literacy mediated education's association with preventive health behaviors
- Perceived physical health also linked to preventive engagement in older adults
- Cross-sectional design limits causal inference; associations observed in Taiwan sample
Longevity Analysis
Preventive behavior depends less on information availability than on the capacity to filter, verify, and translate it into daily action — a skill that tracks with education but can be taught independently of it. For older adults, that capacity determines whether screening, movement, nutrition, and stress regulation become consistent practice or remain abstract intentions. Strengthening digital health interpretation functions as upstream infrastructure for every downstream intervention, and it is one of the few modifiable factors that compounds across the entire span of later life.
Original published by SAGE Research on Aging, by Shih-Chi Chung, Chia-Yi Chiao1Department of Nursing, 34899Chung Shan Medical University, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung City, Taiwan2Department of Living Science, National Open University, New Taipei City, Taiwan.