Assessment of eHealth literacy to reduce financial toxicity and improve shared decision-making in cancer patients: A cross-sectional study

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the associations between eHealth literacy, preferences for financial decision-making, and financial toxicity (FT) in a sample of Chinese cancer patients. Methods: Eligible cancer patients were invited to participate in a cross-sectional survey from January to April 2021. Three measures (eHealth literacy scale, control preference scale, and COST) were used to analyze patients’ eHealth literacy, decisional preferences, and FT, respectively. Wilcoxon signed-rank test and Kruskal–Wallis H test assessed the differences between population subgroups. Binary logistic and multivariate linear regression models were used to assess the relationships between eHealth literacy, decisional preferences, and FT. Results: A total of 590 cancer patients completed the questionnaire. We found that high FT was associated with poor ECOG performance, severe cancer stage, and longer cancer duration. Patients who preferred to adopt collaborative attitude toward decision-making showed a significantly higher eHealth literacy. However, there was an inverse relationship between eHealth literacy and a patient-driven attitude toward decision-making in female cancer patients. Regression analysis indicated that patients who were highly educated and actively employed might report a higher eHealth literacy. A significant relationship was found between high eHealth literacy and low FT. However, this relationship became insignificant when the background characteristics of cancer patients were taken into account. Conclusions: A relationship between enhanced eHealth literacy, preference for collaborative decision-making, and low risk of FT is identified. Practical implication: Interventions to improve patients’ ability to use quality and reliable web-based information on cancer care should be encouraged.