eHEALS as a predictive factor of digital health information seeking behavior among Brazilian undergraduate students.

This article focuses on the cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS) for Brazilian Portuguese among undergraduate students. The study followed rigorous translation and adaptation procedures and tested the instrument’s psychometric properties with 521 students from two Brazilian universities. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a four-factor structure reflecting online searching self-efficacy, awareness of available sources, information usage ability, and critical analysis of information, with the scale demonstrating strong internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.88) and stability (ICC = 0.71). Higher eHEALS scores were associated with younger, white students in health sciences, those with fathers in specialized occupations, and frequent seekers of digital health information, indicating good discriminant, convergent, concurrent, and predictive validity. The study concludes that the adapted eHEALS is a reliable tool for assessing electronic health literacy in the Brazilian undergraduate population and can predict health information seeking behavior.