Chiu Yu-Chan, Li Fang-Ying
Department of Bio-Industry Communication and Development, National Taiwan University, 1, sec 4, Roosevelt Road, 10617, Taipei, Taiwan.
Aurora Healthcare US Corp 8 Electronics Avenue Danvers, MA 01923 USA.
Health Promot Int. 2022 Apr 29;37(2). doi: 10.1093/heapro/daab125.
Given the frequent occurrence of various food incidents, food safety is a significant public health concern worldwide. Health information plays an important role in risk prevention. As its reach continues to broaden, the Internet is emerging as a major source of health information for the public, although some social groups continue to have limited access. This study investigates the relation between the digital divide and practices for preventing food incidents in Taiwan. Using a nationally representative survey of 2098 adults, the results of our multinomial logistic regression and bootstrapped mediation analysis indicate the existence of second- and third-level digital divides. The association between socioeconomic status and Internet use time and digital skills results in disparities in food risk prevention behaviors and is partially mediated by online food safety information acquisition. Our findings reveal that the digital divide exacerbates health inequalities in food risk prevention. In addition to providing useful food safety information online, communication interventions should address the digital inequality by delivering food safety information through alternative networks for disadvantaged members of the public.
鉴于各类食品安全事件频繁发生，食品安全是全球重大的公共卫生问题。健康信息在风险预防中发挥着重要作用。随着互联网覆盖面不断扩大，它正成为公众获取健康信息的主要来源，尽管一些社会群体的网络接入仍然有限。本研究调查了台湾地区数字鸿沟与预防食品安全事件行为之间的关系。通过对2098名成年人进行具有全国代表性的调查，我们的多项逻辑回归和自抽样中介分析结果表明存在二级和三级数字鸿沟。社会经济地位与互联网使用时间及数字技能之间的关联导致了食品风险预防行为的差异，且部分差异由在线食品安全信息获取所介导。我们的研究结果表明，数字鸿沟加剧了食品风险预防方面的健康不平等。除了在网上提供有用的食品安全信息外，沟通干预措施还应通过为弱势公众群体提供替代网络的方式来传递食品安全信息，以解决数字不平等问题。
