Electronic Health Literacy and Health-Related Quality of Life in Endometrial Cancer Survivors: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Authors

İsmail Bağlar, Esra Keles, Fatih Şanlikan, Merve Turan, Aylin Yilmaz, Mustafa Maraşli, Tamer Topaloğlu, Yeliz Dönmez, Cansu Ergenç

Published in

Journal of health communication. Pages 1-7. Sep 21, 2026. Epub Sep 21, 2026.

Abstract

As oncology care increasingly relies on digital resources, electronic health literacy (e-HL) has attracted growing attention as a potentially modifiable communication competency in cancer survivorship. However, evidence on its relationship with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in gynecologic oncology remains limited. This study examines the association between perceived e-HL and HRQoL in women surgically staged for endometrial cancer (EC). In doing so, it extends an established body of evidence to an understudied clinical population. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 399 women at a tertiary referral center in Istanbul, Turkey. Perceived e-HL was assessed using the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS), and HRQoL was measured using the EQ-5D-5 L index and EQ-VAS. Limited perceived e-HL was prevalent, affecting 44.6% (n = 178) of participants. After adjustment, higher perceived e-HL was independently associated with better HRQoL (p < .001). Inadequate perceived e-HL was associated with higher odds of reporting problems in anxiety/depression (OR 1.75; p = .010), self-care (OR 1.97; p = .004), and usual activities (OR 1.92; p = .005), but was not associated with mobility or pain. In conclusion, limited perceived e-HL was independently associated with greater psychological distress and functional difficulty in EC survivors. Because the design is cross-sectional and the proposed mediating processes were not measured, these findings should be interpreted as associations rather than causal or mechanistic relationships.

PMID:
42765560
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 21 Sep 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.