The effect of an interactive game-based e-book with simulative clinical scenarios on the health literacy competency among medical students in Taiwan

Background: Health literacy plays a vital role in effective patient-physician communication. Over the past decades, health literacy efforts have strengthened public empowerment by improving access to health information and its effective use. Despite this progress, there are still insufficient digitalized teaching materials in medical schools, especially in the post-pandemic era. To address this gap, this study developed an interactive e-book as a supplementary e-learning tool for fifth-year medical students during their family medicine clerkship. The e-book integrates game-based learning, multimedia content, and scenario-based simulations to enhance students’ knowledge, attitudes, and skills in health literacy. Methods: A true experimental design was employed, involving 216 medical students randomly assigned to experimental (n = 110) and control (n = 106) groups. Students in the experimental group utilized the e-book alongside standard clerkship training, while the control group participated in standard training alone. Pre- and post-intervention assessments measured health literacy knowledge, attitudes, and skills using a validated questionnaire. Results: Results showed the experiment group (n = 110) who read the e-book demonstrated greater improvements in health literacy knowledge, attitude, and skills than the control group (n = 106). Knowledge scores increased by 0.117 points, attitudes by 0.175 points, and skills by 0.162 points (p < 0.05). Students reported high satisfaction with the e-book’s engaging and interactive format, highlighting its potential for enhancing learning outcomes. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the effectiveness of incorporating interactive digital tools into medical education to foster health literacy competencies, which should be expected in medical education and clinical pratical settings.