The Concept of eHealth Literacy and Its Measurement: German Translation of the eHEALS

The objective of this study was to translate the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS) into German, to evaluate this translation through psychometric testing in a German sample of adolescents, and to analyze whether the content-derived hypothesis of two eHEALS subscales was confirmed by the data. We hypothesized that the first subscale would cover self-perceived competence in seeking health information online, and the second subscale information appraisal of health information on the Internet. A cross-sectional survey among 18-year-old students (N = 327) using our translation of the eHEALS was conducted. A confirmatory factor analysis compared the 1-factor model based on Norman and Skinners' analyses with the a priori specified 2-factor model. The results indicated a better fit for the 2-factor model (chi-square difference of 150.93, p < .0001), supporting the division into subscales.