Objective: This study evaluated the effect of eHealth literacy on increasing the ratio of human papillomavirus vaccinations among Japanese university students. Methods: A Cross-sectional study was conducted from April 27th to May 10th in 2023. A self-reporting questionnaire was used, including variables of age, faculty & department belonging at a university, the human papillomavirus vaccination frequency, the human papillomavirus vaccination request status, knowledge of cervical cancer, knowledge of the human papillomavirus vaccine, and eHealth Literacy. Results: The study subjects were 441 with a mean age of 19.59 ± 1.40 years old. The effect of the motivation to get the HPV vaccination was analyzed using a multivariable logistic regression analysis using a forward stepwise selection method (Likelihood Ratio). Five factors out of 13 were chosen as the decided factors. Knowing the vaccine type and injection spot of the vaccination was significantly associated with the motivation to get the HPV vaccination (OR = 4.650, 95%CI: 3.291–6.572, p < 0.001). Having the proper knowledge of the side effects of HPV vaccination was also significantly associated with the motivation to get the HPV vaccination (OR = 2.624, 95%CI: 1.807–3.811, p < 0.001). A low level of eHealth Literacy was also significantly negatively associated with motivation (OR = 0.522, 95%CI: 0.302–0.901, p = 0.02).
Conclusions: The finding that eHealth literacy affects the motivation to get the human papillomavirus vaccination can help people who work in the health, medical, and educational fields to make a strategy to spread the correct information about the human papillomavirus vaccination to the specific target population.
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