Digital Health Solutions Must Prioritize Equity to Avoid Widening Health Disparities
Category: User-Centred Design · Effect: Moderate effect · Year: 2023
The integration of digital health technologies can exacerbate existing health inequities if not intentionally designed with a focus on underinvested communities.
Design Takeaway
When designing digital health solutions, actively involve representatives from underinvested communities throughout the design and development process, and plan for ongoing evaluation of equity outcomes.
Why It Matters
Designers and developers must move beyond simply creating functional digital health tools. A critical consideration is how these tools impact different user groups, particularly those historically marginalized, to ensure technology serves as a bridge rather than a barrier to equitable healthcare.
Key Finding
The review identified many potential solutions for making digital health more equitable, with common themes appearing across different contexts. However, there's a significant gap in understanding how to effectively evaluate and monitor these solutions, and a lack of evidence on their actual impact.
Key Findings
- Numerous solutions exist across policy, design, implementation, and evaluation to address DDOH.
- Common themes emerged across solutions regardless of specific community or technology.
- Less information was available on evaluation and monitoring solutions, correlating with a lack of evidence on effectiveness.
- Universal strategies can be developed to address DDOH.
Research Evidence
Aim: What strategies and solutions can mitigate the negative effects of Digital Determinants of Health (DDOH) for underinvested communities?
Method: Scoping Review
Procedure: A systematic search of Medline, Scopus, and Google Scholar was conducted for articles published since 2010 discussing digital health technology in underinvested communities. 345 articles were identified, and 132 were randomly selected for review by 8 experts to identify solutions minimizing DDOH differences. Solutions were categorized into policy, design/development, implementation/adoption, and evaluation/monitoring.
Sample Size: 132 articles (randomly selected from 345)
Context: Digital Health, Healthcare Equity, Underinvested Communities
Design Principle
Design for equity by understanding and addressing the unique barriers and needs of all user groups, especially those historically underserved.
How to Apply
When developing any digital health product, conduct user research specifically with underinvested populations to identify potential barriers to access, usability, and adoption, and integrate these findings into the design.
Limitations
The review was limited to English-language articles and did not deeply explore the effectiveness of all identified solutions, particularly in the evaluation and monitoring phases.
Student Guide (IB Design Technology)
Simple Explanation: When making health apps or websites, make sure they work for everyone, especially people who don't have as much access to technology or support, so that technology doesn't make health problems worse for them.
Why This Matters: Understanding Digital Determinants of Health is crucial for creating inclusive and effective digital products that don't inadvertently exclude or disadvantage certain user groups, ensuring your design project benefits society broadly.
Critical Thinking: To what extent can universal design strategies truly address the nuanced and context-specific digital needs of diverse underinvested communities, or is hyper-localization of design essential?
IA-Ready Paragraph: This research highlights the critical need to address Digital Determinants of Health (DDOH) to ensure digital health solutions do not widen existing health disparities. By identifying numerous strategies across policy, design, and implementation, the study underscores that proactive, equity-focused design is essential for underinvested communities. Designers must therefore prioritize user-centered approaches that understand and mitigate potential barriers to access and usability, ensuring technology serves to improve health outcomes for all.
Project Tips
- When researching a user group, focus on understanding their specific digital access and literacy levels.
- Consider how cultural factors might influence the adoption and use of a digital product.
- Think about how to make your design accessible to users with varying levels of technical skill.
How to Use in IA
- Reference this study when discussing the importance of user research for diverse populations in your design project's context.
- Use the findings to justify the inclusion of specific user groups in your testing and development phases.
Examiner Tips
- Demonstrate an awareness of how technology can create or exacerbate societal inequalities.
- Show how your design process actively sought to mitigate these potential negative impacts.
Independent Variable: Strategies and solutions for addressing DDOH
Dependent Variable: Mitigation of negative effects of DDOH, health equity
Controlled Variables: Digital health technology, underinvested communities
Strengths
- Comprehensive search of multiple databases.
- Systematic categorization of solutions.
- Expert review process.
Critical Questions
- How can the effectiveness of implemented DDOH solutions be rigorously measured and evaluated?
- What are the ethical considerations in designing and deploying digital health technologies in vulnerable populations?
Extended Essay Application
- An Extended Essay could explore the development of a digital health platform specifically for a marginalized community, using the DDOH framework to guide research and design decisions.
- Investigate the policy implications of digital health adoption in low-resource settings.
Source
Strategies and solutions to address Digital Determinants of Health (DDOH) across underinvested communities · PLOS Digital Health · 2023 · 10.1371/journal.pdig.0000314