The eHealth Literacy Scale is an 8-item self-assessment tool to evaluate eHealth literacy. The aim of our study is to provide an Italian validation of the scale (IT-eHEALS), in a population of Italian adults. A web-based survey was conducted among Italian adults. We collected variables regarding to sociodemographic characteristics and Internet use for health-related purposes. Internal consistency and dimensionality of the 8-item scale were evaluated using Cronbach alpha and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). In total, a sample of 1135 respondents was collected, of which 868 (76%) completed the IT-eHEALS and were included for further analysis. The internal consistency of the IT-eHEALS was good (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.90), while the PCA confirmed the scale unidimensionality (eigenvalue = 4.9 with 61% of variance explained). Our results show that the IT-eHEALS is a valid scale that can be used to measure eHealth literacy in Italian adult. Nevertheless, the study presents some limitations, limiting the generalizability of our results. Further studies are needed to evaluate the relationship between digital health literacy and its impact on population health.
