The digital divide in rural and regional communities: a survey on the use of digital health technology and implications for supporting technology use

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Documents

  • Fulltext

    Final published version, 1.26 MB, PDF document

  • Hannah Jongebloed
  • Kate Anderson
  • Natalie Winter
  • Lemai Nguyen
  • Catherine E Huggins
  • Feby Savira
  • Paul Cooper
  • Eva Yuen
  • Anna Peeters
  • Rasmussen, Bodil
  • Sandeep Reddy
  • Sarah Crowe
  • Rahul Bhoyroo
  • Imran Muhammad
  • Anna Ugalde

OBJECTIVE: A digital divide exists for people from rural and regional areas where they are less likely and confident to engage in digital health technologies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the digital health literacy and engagement of people from rural and regional communities, with a focus on identifying barriers and facilitators to using technology.

RESULTS: Forty adults living in rural/regional areas completed a survey consisting of the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS) with additional items surveying participants' experience with a range of digital health technologies. All participants had used at least one digital health technology. Most (80%) participants had an eHEALS score of 26 or above indicating confidence in online health information. Commonly reported barriers to digital health technology use centred on product complexity and reliability, awareness of resources, lack of trust, and cost. Effective digital health technology use is becoming increasingly important, there may be a need to prioritise and support people with lower levels of digital health literacy. We present opportunities to support community members in using and accessing digital health technology.

Original languageEnglish
Article number90
JournalBMC Research Notes
Volume17
Issue number1
Number of pages5
ISSN1756-0500
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Bibliographical note

© 2024. The Author(s).

    Research areas

  • Adult, Humans, Digital Health, Reproducibility of Results, Digital Divide, Telemedicine, Health Literacy, Surveys and Questionnaires, Technology

ID: 388323682