School of Social Work and Centre for the Study of Services to Children and Families, University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, BC, V1V 1V7, Canada.
School of Nursing, University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, BC, V1V 1V7, Canada.
BMC Public Health. 2022 Apr 27;22(1):845. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-13254-1.
Rural and remote communities faced unique access challenges to essential services such as healthcare and highspeed infrastructure pre-COVID, which have been amplified by the pandemic. This study examined patterns of COVID-related challenges and the use of technology among rural-living individuals during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A sample of 279 rural residents completed an online survey about the impact of COVID-related challenges and the role of technology use. Latent class analysis was used to generate subgroups reflecting the patterns of COVID-related challenges. Differences in group membership were examined based on age, gender, education, race/ethnicity, and living situation. Finally, thematic analysis of open-ended qualitative responses was conducted to further contextualize the challenges experienced by rural-living residents.
Four distinct COVID challenge impact subgroups were identified: 1) Social challenges (35%), 2) Social and Health challenges (31%), 3) Social and Financial challenges (14%), and 4) Social, Health, Financial, and Daily Living challenges (19%). Older adults were more likely to be in the Social challenges or Social and Health challenges groups as compared to young adults who were more likely to be in the Social, Health, Financial, and Daily Living challenges group. Additionally, although participants were using technology more frequently during the COVID-19 pandemic to address challenges, they were also reporting issues with quality and connectivity as a significant barrier.
These analyses found four different patterns of impact related to social, health, financial, and daily living challenges in the context of COVID. Social needs were evident across the four groups; however, we also found nearly 1 in 5 rural-living individuals were impacted by an array of challenges. Access to reliable internet and devices has the potential to support individuals to manage these challenges.
在 COVID 之前，农村和偏远社区在获得医疗保健和高速基础设施等基本服务方面面临着独特的挑战，而这些挑战在大流行期间进一步加剧。本研究调查了 COVID 相关挑战的模式以及农村居民在 COVID-19 大流行的第一波期间使用技术的情况。
对 279 名农村居民进行了一项在线调查，内容涉及 COVID 相关挑战的影响以及技术使用情况。采用潜在类别分析生成反映 COVID 相关挑战模式的亚组。根据年龄、性别、教育程度、种族/民族和居住情况，检查群体成员差异。最后，对开放式定性回复进行主题分析，以进一步了解农村居民所面临的挑战。
确定了四个不同的 COVID 挑战影响亚组：1）社会挑战（35%），2）社会和健康挑战（31%），3）社会和财务挑战（14%），4）社会、健康、财务和日常生活挑战（19%）。与年轻人相比，老年人更有可能处于社会挑战或社会和健康挑战组中，而年轻人更有可能处于社会、健康、财务和日常生活挑战组中。此外，尽管参与者在 COVID-19 大流行期间更频繁地使用技术来应对挑战，但他们也报告说，由于质量和连接性问题，这是一个重大障碍。
这些分析发现了与 COVID 背景下的社会、健康、财务和日常生活挑战相关的四种不同影响模式。四个组都存在社会需求；然而，我们还发现近五分之一的农村居民受到一系列挑战的影响。可靠的互联网和设备的接入有可能支持个人应对这些挑战。
