Health information literacy and competencies of information age students: Results from the interactive online Research Readiness Self-Assessment (RRSA)
Health information literacy and competencies of information age students: Results from the interactive online Research Readiness Self-Assessment (RRSA)
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DOI：
10.2196/jmir.8.2.e6
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发表时间：
2006-01-01
影响因子：
7.4
通讯作者：
Casey, Anne Marie
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Ivanitskaya, Lana;O'Boyle, Irene;Casey, Anne Marie
背景：在信息便捷的时代，即将进入健康行业的大学生需要培养自己的信息能力。研究准备自我评估（RRSA）以高等教育信息素养能力标准为基础，衡量获取健康信息、评估健康信息质量和理解抄袭的熟练程度。 目的：本研究旨在衡量大学生健康信息消费者查找和评估电子健康信息的熟练程度；评估他们区分同行评审的学术资源和观点文章或推销宣传的能力；方法：采用交互式 56 项在线评估——研究准备自我评估（RRSA）来衡量大学生的健康信息能力。我们邀请了 400 名学生参与这项研究，最终有 308 名学生参与，响应率为 77%。 RRSA 包括多项选择题和基于问题的练习。陈述性和程序性知识在三个领域进行评估：查找健康信息、评估健康信息和理解剽窃。实际表现与自我报告的技能水平进行对比。回答完所有问题后，学生会收到一个结果页面，其中总结了他们的数字结果，并显示由经验丰富的图书管理员撰写的单独定制的反馈。结果：尽管大多数学生 (89%) 明白单关键字搜索可能会返回太多文档，但很少有学生能够通过同时使用多个搜索类别或使用布尔运算符来缩小搜索范围。此外，近一半的受访者难以区分主要和次要信息来源以及对期刊文章和其他已发表文件的引用。当遇到有关不存在的营养补充剂的可疑网站时，只有 50% 的受访者能够正确识别具有最值得信赖功能的网站。不到四分之一的研究参与者得出了正确的结论，即没有一个网站为服用营养补充剂提供了良好的理由。高达 45% 的学生不确定他们是否需要为用释义句子或修改结构的句子表达的想法提供参考。大多数受访者（84%）认为他们的研究技能良好、非常好或优秀。学生对技能的自我认知往往随着教育水平的提高而提高。自我报告的技能与实际技能水平的相关性较弱，可操作为总体 RRSA 得分（56 个 RRSA 项目的 Cronbach alpha = .78）。结论：虽然大多数学生认为自己的研究技能良好或优秀，但他们中的许多人无法进行高级信息搜索、判断健康相关网站和文章的可信度以及区分各种信息来源。学生的自我报告可能无法准确预测他们实际的健康信息能力。
Background: In an era of easy access to information, university students who will soon enter health professions need to develop their information competencies. The Research Readiness Self-Assessment (RRSA) is based on the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, and it measures proficiency in obtaining health information, evaluating the quality of health information, and understanding plagiarism.Objective: This study aimed to measure the proficiency of college-age health information consumers in finding and evaluating electronic health information; to assess their ability to discriminate between peer-reviewed scholarly resources and opinion pieces or sales pitches; and to examine the extent to which they are aware of their level of health information competency.Methods: An interactive 56-item online assessment, the Research Readiness Self-Assessment (RRSA), was used to measure the health information competencies of university students. We invited 400 students to take part in the study, and 308 participated, giving a response rate of 77%. The RRSA included multiple-choice questions and problem-based exercises. Declarative and procedural knowledge were assessed in three domains: finding health information, evaluating health information, and understanding plagiarism. Actual performance was contrasted with self-reported skill level. Upon answering all questions, students received a results page that summarized their numerical results and displayed individually tailored feedback composed by an experienced librarian.Results: Even though most students (89%) understood that a one-keyword search is likely to return too many documents, few students were able to narrow a search by using multiple search categories simultaneously or by employing Boolean operators. In addition, nearly half of the respondents had trouble discriminating between primary and secondary sources of information as well as between references to journal articles and other published documents. When presented with questionable websites on nonexistent nutritional supplements, only 50% of respondents were able to correctly identify the website with the most trustworthy features. Less than a quarter of study participants reached the correct conclusion that none of the websites made a good case for taking the nutritional supplements. Up to 45% of students were unsure if they needed to provide references for ideas expressed in paraphrased sentences or sentences whose structure they modified. Most respondents (84%) believed that their research skills were good, very good, or excellent. Students' self-perceptions of skill tended to increase with increasing level of education. Self-reported skills were weakly correlated with actual skill level, operationalized as the overall RRSA score (Cronbach alpha = .78 for 56 RRSA items).Conclusions: While the majority of students think that their research skills are good or excellent, many of them are unable to conduct advanced information searches, judge the trustworthiness of health-related websites and articles, and differentiate between various information sources. Students' self-reports may not be an accurate predictor of their actual health information competencies.