Untitled document.edited - 2024-12-21T095524.695
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Politeknik Keuangan Negaran STAN**We aren't endorsed by this school
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PSY 100
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Medicine
Date
Dec 21, 2024
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4
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The Digital Divide and Health Communication: Strategies for PR Practitioners - OutlineOct 8, 2024I. Introduction:While technological development has led to digital dependency, a part of the population is digitally excluded, hence bringing about the digital divide. This has highly impacted health communication efforts, creating disparities in healthcare information and challenging public relations strategies to reach a much wider and diverse audience.II. Body:Several studies reviewed have revealed that the digital divide has limited the reach of particular groups of people to health-related information and services, thus creating health inequalities and further disadvantaging vulnerable groups. Hence, reaching some groups with PR is quite challenging.A. There is evidence that the digital divide furthers or hinders some segments of the population, like older people, from accessing significant and trustworthy health information.a. Besides, Saeed and Masters added that despite better technology, which reduced the digital divide in health, the challenge is still there because millions of people can't access sufficient Internet and health information.b. Digital health, as an implication of its presence in health care, has caused health inequity due to the division brought along by it despite the claims that its development was inclusive through marginalization of the population affected by poor adoption of health-related technology and poor digital literacy. This is according to Hadjiat (2023).c. Campanozzi et al.'s study, 2023, depicts that some categorical groups, such as older people, need to gain a higher level of digital literacy, which excludes them from accessing and utilizing the Internet as a channel to disseminate health information and resources.B. In access to communicating public health information and campaigns, the digital divide has increased and burdens customizing health content to the larger population.a. Gelfgren et al. (2022) discuss that health organizations find it challenging to advocate for or communicate issues related to the health of different groups using the Internet or social media exclusively due to disability, economic status, and age.
b. Nguyen et al. (2021) discuss how PR strategies in COVID-19 consisted of digital media and risked alienating those most vulnerable to digital exclusion.c. Cheshmehzangi et al. (2022) establish that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, digital health has widened the gap in digital use and influenced health communication. It is, therefore, essential to ensure that other modes of communication and access to health are included.C. In this regard, PR practitioners will be able to minimize the digital divide problems by applying strategies such as overcoming technological barriers and training people in digital literacy, with the ultimate goal of allowing more inclusive health communication.a. Barriers to technology, digital health readiness, and even the enabling of digital literacy in the population have been suggested as solutions for engaging diverse communities with health in a report by Lyles et al. (2022).b. In the report, ISSA 2023 commented that since COVID accelerated public service delivery, multi-channel communication strategies were instituted to ensure that institutions could use both digital and traditional channels, such as telephone and face-to-face meetings.c. Lopez de Coca et al. (2022) have explained that PR practitioners can fill this gap by applying everyday life languages and others to reliable sources of health information, including promotingeHealth literacy levels among the elderly population.III. Conclusion:Literature indicates that one meaningful way to achieve equity in health access is to mitigate digital division effects, especially within the health sector. PR practitioners can achieve this by incorporating diversity and inclusivity approaches to help bridge the gap.References
Campanozzi, L. L., Gibelli, F., Bailo, P., Nittari, G., Sirignano, A., & Ricci, G. (2023, February 2). The role of digital literacy in Achieving Health Equity in the Third Millennium Society: A Literature Review. Frontiers. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1109323/fullCheshmehzangi, A., Zou, T., Zhang, Y., Chen, H., Su, Z., Dawodu, A., & Xie, L. (2022). Commentary: Reflecting on the neglected digital divide barriers of telemedicine during COVID-19. Frontiers in Public Health, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.915401Gelfgren, S., Ineland, J., & Cocq, C. (2021). Social Media and disability advocacy organizations:Caught between hopes and realities. Disability & Society, 37(7), 1085–1106. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2020.1867069Hadjiat, Y. (2023). Healthcare inequity and Digital Health–A bridge for the divide, or further erosion of the chasm? PLOS Digital Health, 2(6). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pdig.0000268
Multi-channel communication strategies in the Americas | International Social Security Association (ISSA). (n.d.). https://www.issa.int/analysis/multi-channel-communication-strategies-americasLopez de Coca, T., Moreno, L., Alacreu, M., & Sebastian-Morello, M. (2022). Bridging the Generational Digital Gap in the Healthcare Environment. Journal of Personalized Medicine, 12, 1214. https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm12081214Lyles, C. R., Aguilera, A., Nguyen, O., & Sarkar, U. (2022). Bridging the Digital Health Divide: How Providers and Plans Can Help Communities Better Adopt Digital Health Tools. California Health Care Foundation. https://www.chcf.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/BridgingDigitalDivideProvidersPlans.pdfNguyen, M. H., Hargittai, E., & Marler, W. (2021). Digital inequality in communication during physical distancing: The case of COVID-19. Computers in Human Behavior, 120, 106717. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.106717Saeed, S. A., & Masters, R. M. (2021). Disparities in health care and the digital divide. Current Psychiatry Reports, 23(9). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-021-01274-4