Abstract:

Based on the List of Fake Health Information Features (FHIF) developed in the prior study, this study explores college students’ capability of screening health information in social media. It examines what factors affect their screening capability and the effectiveness of the List in practice. Also, it investigates its feasibility in helping enhance user’s health information literacy. An experiment with a onegroup pretestposttest design was conducted. Fiftytwo participants were recruited and 44 participants completed the experiment. T tests and ANOVA were performed to analyze the data. The study indicates that the students are capable in screening health information. The results indicate that student source, family income, and the degree of their attention to health information significantly affect their capability of making judgement in fake or real health information. The results also indicate that the List is effective and may be valuable for other user groups.

Key words: Health information screen behavior, Information features, Real and fake health information, Information credibility, Health information literacy