Üsküdar University Founding Rector Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, Üsküdar University Institute of Social Sciences, Journalism Department Lecturer Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aylin Tutgun Ünal, and author Yücel Ekinci's co-authored book “Digital Health Literacy Digital Diseases and Cyberchondria” is on the shelves.
Digital Health Literacy, unlike general health literacy, stands before us as a new type of health literacy that encompasses the online world. Although recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO), which has found it necessary and published reports on it, and having entered the literature as a digital literacy type specific to health, it is still considered an area requiring further study due to a lack of sufficient resources. The book, aiming to fill this gap, first addresses the diseases of the digital age.
Among these diseases, which are mentioned in many sources, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, who contributed to the study with 40 years of knowledge and experience in psychiatry and is also the lead author of the book, includes the topic of 'learned autism' in digital diseases for the first time.
“Digital Health Literacy skills are needed”
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aylin Tutgun Ünal, one of the other authors of the book, who made evaluations about Digital Health Literacy, provided the following information regarding the book: “Cyberchondria, in other words, the disease of searching for illnesses on the internet, was thoroughly examined. Because in our age, acquiring health information from internet and social media platforms, when taken to extremes, harms the young generation who spend a lot of their time in the digital world. Since cyberchondria is considered a disease, there has been a need for its measurement, leading to the development of many assessment tools. Thus, in this study, over 400 sources selected from thousands worldwide were cited, and the conducted research and scales were included. Digital Health Literacy skills are needed. As new studies are just beginning and measurement tools are being developed in this area, this work aims to contribute to future research.” she said.
“These phenomena have shown us the importance of digital literacy and health literacy”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan included the following words on the back cover of the work: “Cyberchondria is the situation where an individual attempts to self-diagnose or treat themselves by researching information, documents, and treatment methods online about diseases they believe they have. These phenomena have shown us the importance of digital literacy and health literacy. Without parental supervision, digital media can lead to a lost generation. Now, all of us must be more conscious. My esteemed colleagues, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aylin Tutgun Ünal and Yücel Ekinci, who addressed these important topics, put in a great deal of effort, and I congratulate them. As fellow scientists, I thank everyone who contributed to the creation of this beautiful work.”
This book, which includes an intensive literature review compiling studies from around the world, will both guide researchers interested in the subject and serve as a bedside resource for everyone who is a citizen of the digital world.