The Relationship between Social Media Consumption by the Users and Media Literacy (in the Domain of Tehran’s Health)

The conscious use of social media and not falling victim to fake news requires possessing media literacy. The main question of the present research is as follows: What is the correlation between internet users’ Media Health Literacy and their Social Media Consumption. The research method was survey conducted in May 2019. The statistical population was adult citizens of Tehran who were internet users and the data was measured using a researcher-made questionnaire whose reliability has been confirmed (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.837). By Media Health Literacy, we mean people’s understanding of their abilities to access, analyze, create and convey communicative messages in the field of health through media. According to the findings, Health Media Literacy was significantly correlated with the frequency of Social Media Consumption (in general) and Social Media Usage (the variety of social media in use and using their applications in the health domain) in the field of health. However, no statistically significant relationship was found between the average Media Health Literacy of males and females, across different age groups and across residents of various city areas. Multiple linear regression shows that variants like ‘gratifications obtained from using social media in the field of health’, ‘variety of the used health-related social media’, ‘area of residence’ and ‘years of education’ were able to define 33.5 percent of Media Health Literacy variance. It can be concluded that despite the spread of social media penetration, factors like the level of education and economic status influence the users' health media literacy. But it is expected that the users’ Media Health Literacy is enhanced using various capabilities of the social health media