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Retrospective Cohort Study
Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Psychiatry. Sep 19, 2026; 16(9): 120446
Published online Sep 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.120446
Mediating effect of digital health literacy between preventive health service utilization and mental health among hospital personnel
Shao-Jun Zhang, Jian-Jian Wang
Shao-Jun Zhang, Labor Union, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410011, Hunan Province, China
Jian-Jian Wang, Department of Psychiatry, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410011, Hunan Province, China
Author contributions: Zhang SJ was responsible for conceptualization, data curation, methodology, software, formal analysis, project administration, investigation, supervision, validation, writing - review & editing, writing - original draft; and Wang JJ was responsible for visualization.
AI contribution statement: The entirety or any portion of the main text of the manuscript (Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion) was not AI-generated? No AI tool used for language polishing, translation, data analysis, or writing assistance of the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This study has been approved by the Clinical Research Ethics Committee of the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University (Approval No. LYEC2026-K0212).
Informed consent statement: This study uses de-identified retrospective electronic health records and anonymous questionnaire data, presenting no more than minimal risk to participants. Therefore, informed consent was not required.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the Authors have no conflict of interest related to the manuscript.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: The original anonymous dataset is available on request from the corresponding author at eraldo.SshhaoJun8@163.com.
Corresponding author: Shao-Jun Zhang, Labor Union, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, No. 139 Renmin Middle Road, Changsha 410011, Hunan Province, China. sshhaojun8@163.com
Received: April 10, 2026
Revised: June 8, 2026
Accepted: July 28, 2026
Published online: September 19, 2026
Processing time: 135 Days and 20.5 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: This retrospective cohort study investigated the relationships among preventive health service utilization (PHSU), digital health literacy (DHL), and mental health in 688 hospital employees. Data analysis, including correlation and regression methods, revealed a significant association between higher levels of DHL and better mental health. Crucially, DHL was identified as a key mediating variable in this relationship. The findings indicate that while PHSU directly promotes employee mental health, its positive effects are also indirectly enhanced through improved DHL.

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