Study On The Relationship Between E-health Literacy And Depressive Symptoms Among Middle-aged And Old Adults In Tai’an City

BackgroundWith the deepening of aging in our country,more and more middle-aged and old adults aged 45 and above begin to enter the aging stage,the decline of body functions,the transformation of social roles bring mental health problems increasingly prominent.E-health literacy is beneficial to guide the public to actively practice healthy lifestyle and promote the improvement of healthy behaviors,so as to improve health outcomes and life quality.Depressive symptom is one of the important evaluation indicators of the mental health status of middle-aged and old adults.Exploring the influencing factors of depressive symptoms in middle-aged and old adults has practical significance for realizing "healthy aging".Therefore,this research study the relationship between e-health literacy and depressive symptoms among middle-aged and old adults in Tai’an city,and explore the influence path perceived social support and life satisfaction on the relationship between them,so as to provide reference for"healthy aging".ObjectiveTo understand the current situation and influencing factors of depressive symptoms among middle-aged and old adults in Tai ’an city,explore the relationship between e-health literacy and depressive symptoms among middle-aged and old adults,test and understand the multiple mediating roles of perceived social support and life satisfaction in the relationship between e-health literacy and depressive symptoms,and provide reference for improving the level of e-health literacy among middle-aged and old adults,improving depressive symptoms,and realizing healthy aging.MethodsThe multi-stage cluster random sampling method was adopted to select a total of 8542 residents over 15 years old and living for more than 6 months from 160 villages/residences in 20 towns/streets in 6 counties/districts of Tai’an City.Only 6689 middle-aged and old adults aged 45 and above were selected as research objects in this study.General scales such as E-Health Literacy Scale,Perceptive Social Support Scale,Life Satisfaction Scale and PHQ-9 were used as the survey tools.The research contents included relevant information such as general sociodemographic characteristics,health behaviors and health status.EpiData 3.1 was used to establish the database and input the data.SPSS 26.0 and Amos 26.0 were used for data analysis.Firstly,the general social demographic characteristics,health behavior,health status and other relevant information of middle-aged and old adults were described.Secondly,multiple linear regression was used to analyze the influencing factors of depressive symptoms in middle-aged and old adults.Finally,Amos 26.0 was used to construct a structural equation model to verify the multiple mediating effects of perceived social support and life satisfaction on e-health literacy and depressive symptoms in middle-aged and old adults.ResultsA total of 6689 middle-aged and old adults were included in this study.The results showed that the score of e-health literacy was 13.18±9.70;Depressive symptom score was 2.77±3.66.Multiple linear regression analysis showed that age≥60 years old,the higher the annual household income level,more than 3 times a week of physical exercise,BMI overweight,obesity,self-rated health average or good were protective factors for depressive symptoms.Female,unemployed,no tea habit,no vegetable/fruit habit,having one or more chronic diseases,and having sleep disorders were risk factors for depressive symptoms.Pearson bivariate correlation analysis showed that e-health literacy was significantly negatively correlated with depressive symptoms(P<0.001),and e-health literacy evaluation dimension and decision-making dimension were significantly positively correlated with perceived social support and life satisfaction(P<0.05).There was no significant correlation between application dimension of e-health literacy and the fifth dimension of life satisfaction(P>0.05).Perceived social support was significantly positively correlated with life satisfaction(P<0.05),and significantly negatively correlated with depressive symptoms(P<0.05).The structural equation model analysis showed that perceived social support and life satisfaction had multiple mediating effects on the relationship between e-health literacy and depressive symptoms.The total effect value of e-health literacy on depressive symptoms was-0.126,the direct effect was-0.060,and the indirect effect was-0.066.The mediating effect of perceived social support was-0.037,and that of life satisfaction was-0.008(P>0.05).That is,e-health literacy can affect life satisfaction and improve depressive symptoms by influencing perceived social support.In addition,e-health literacy can directly influence the improvement of depressive symptoms by influencing perceived social support levels.However,in this study,e-health literacy did not influence improvement of depressive symptoms by influencing life satisfaction.Conclusions and SuggestionsConclusionsThere is a negative correlation between e-health literacy and depressive symptoms among the old adults in Tai’an city.This study confirmed the hypothesis that perceived social support and life satisfaction play multiple mediating roles between e-health literacy and depressive symptoms in middle-aged and old adults,that is,e-health literacy can not only directly affect depressive symptoms,but also affect depressive symptoms through perceived social support and thus affect life satisfaction.Improving e-health literacy,social support and life satisfaction can effectively improve depressive symptoms.Suggestions(1)Pay attention to mental health,strengthen mental health assessment and intervention.The mental health of the aged is an important issue to improve and improve the mental health of the middle-aged and old adults is the fundamental guarantee of healthy aging of the aged group.(2)Strengthen health education and improve e-health literacy of middle-aged and old adults.With the Internet as the carrier and e-health literacy as the starting point,this paper makes a comprehensive and systematic evaluation according to the current situation of e-health literacy of middle-aged and old adults,and takes targeted measures to improve the level of e-health literacy of middle-aged and old adults.(3)Improve the level of social support and enrich the social network of middle-aged and old adults.We should enrich the life of the middle-aged and old adults from family,friends and social aspects,develop diversified education for the old adults,build a sharing information platform,and create a friendly social environment.(4)Improve life satisfaction,enhance the middle-aged and old adults happiness.Life satisfaction is an important factor of happiness and an important index of mental health and quality of life.Improve cultural satisfaction,promote aging transformation,and enhance the happiness of middle-aged and old adults.