The limited health literacy of target populations, which can affect the effectiveness of digital interventions

The gap

Evidence profile

Sourced from the stated challenges and future-work section and future work of the source papers, classified as general, drawn from work published between 2025 and 2026, spanning 3 journals. Those papers have been cited 5 times in total.

Supporting evidence — 3 representative gaps

• Digital health interventions for colorectal cancer screening uptake: A scoping review (2025) · PLOS Digital Health · cited 5× · doi

  One challenge is the limited health literacy of target populations, which can affect the effectiveness of digital interventions. Another challenge is the lack of access to healthcare services in rural or underserved areas, which can limit the reach of digital interventions. The review also highlights the challenge of sustaining screening rates over time, which requires longitudinal follow-up and analysis of intervention impacts.

  generalstated challenges
  Keywords: one challenge limited health literacy target populations affect
• Health Literacy and Oral Health Behaviors Among Dental Medicine Students: A Cross-Sectional Study (2026) · Dentistry Journal · doi

  examine the relationship between health literacy and behaviors over time, using longitudinal designs that would allow for a better understanding of how these dimensions evolve, - the inclusion of clinical indicators could also provide a clearer link between literacy levels and actual oral health status, - explore additional factors that could influence this relationship, such as self-efficacy, motivation, or trust in information sources, particularly in the context of the frequent use of digital media, - future interventions should take local context into account, especially in rural areas, where access to resources and the practical use of information can be more limited

  generalfuture-work section
  Keywords: examine relationship between health literacy behaviors time using
• Empowering digital public health: a study on the mechanisms by which the application of digital technology drives social entrepreneurial intentions in the health sector among university students (2026) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi

  Although this study constructs a rigorous chain model of “digital technology application—digital health practice literacy—psychologi- cal capital—social entrepreneurial intention,” it is constrained by objective conditions and still has the following limitations, which point the way for future research. First, geographic concentration and sample size may limit generalizability. The survey primarily focuses on the Yangtze River Delta region (N = 276), where digital healthcare resources are relatively abundant. This may overlook the “digital health divide” faced by university students in less developed regions and constrains the generalizability of the findings to broader popula- tions. Future research should expand the sampling scope and system- atically examine the heterogeneous effects of grassroots public health infrastructure on digital technology empowerment through cross- regional empirical comparisons. Second, cross-sectional design and self-reported data restrict causal inference and may introduce bias. Cross-sectional data struggle to capture the dynamic, long-term impact of digital health tools on individual psychological resources. Additionally, the exclusive reliance on self-reported questionnaires may introduce common method variance and social desirability bias. Future research could adopt longitudinal tracking designs with multi- time-point observations to deeply explore the intervention trajectory of digital technology on psychological resilience and entrepreneurial decision-making. Incorporating multi-source data—such as behav- ioral records, peer evaluations, or objective digital engagement met- rics—would also help triangulate self-report measures and strengthen

  generalfuture workevidence 5/5
  Keywords: digital health technology future cross self social entrepreneurial objective point generalizability resources sectional reported introduce

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