Djurali Centre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research and Education, Macquarie University, Australia.
Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences, Macquarie University, Macquarie University, Australia.
J Med Internet Res. 2023 Oct 17;25:e50584. doi: 10.2196/50584.
Digital health is becoming ubiquitous, and we must ensure equity in access. Indigenous people across most high-income countries typically have not benefited as much as other citizens from usual health care systems and technologies. Despite Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's clear interest in, and enthusiastic use of, new technologies, little research has examined the needs or interests of older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.
This study prioritizes the perspectives of older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, tapping into their expertise associated with Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing, as well as their unique position within their families and communities, to design a model for using digital technologies to improve health for themselves and their families as well as their communities.
Older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women from 4 partner organizations were recruited for this study. This co-designed qualitative research included citizen scientists in shaping the protocol as well as collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data. We used yarning, an Indigenous research method validated for use in health research with Indigenous people and seen as respectful and culturally safe, as a primary research tool. The use of Indigenous methodologies and our iterative process enabled us to deeply explore and incorporate perspectives from all participants and ensure that the perspectives of Indigenous citizen scientists with lived experience were privileged. The data-checking methods also used a yarning methodology, which ensured that the findings and translational model derived from the findings were validated by the participants.
Participants comprised 24 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women aged ≥41 years and including 3 generations that did not grow up with the internet: seniors, baby boomers, and Generation X. The key findings in this research were that older women use various digital technologies to improve health and well-being for themselves and their families as well as their communities. Older Aboriginal women want a culturally sensitive cyberspace that caters specifically to their needs and includes relevant content and functionality that are accessible and efficient. Our translational model highlights the conditions necessary for anyone to use digital health technologies, summarizes the essential elements needed to promote equity in digital health, and illuminates the unmet needs and requirements for older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women to fully benefit from digital health technologies.
Health is a fundamental right. As we move toward greater reliance on digital health solutions, we must recognize and address the concerns of the smaller populations of people who differ in their needs. We must urgently address the financial, connectivity, and other limiting factors highlighted by older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in this study that limit equitable access to digital health tools.
INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): RR2-10.1177/20552076221084469.
数字健康正在普及，我们必须确保公平获取。在大多数高收入国家，原住民通常没有像其他公民那样从常规医疗保健系统和技术中受益。尽管澳大利亚原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民对新技术表现出浓厚的兴趣和热情，但很少有研究调查老年澳大利亚原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民女性的需求或兴趣。
本研究优先考虑老年澳大利亚原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民女性的观点，挖掘她们与原住民知识、存在和行为方式相关的专业知识，以及她们在家庭和社区中的独特地位，设计一个使用数字技术改善她们自身和家庭以及社区健康的模型。
从 4 个合作组织中招募了老年澳大利亚原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民女性参与这项研究。这项共同设计的定性研究包括公民科学家参与制定方案以及收集、分析和解释数据。我们使用 Yarning，一种经过验证可用于与原住民合作的健康研究的原住民研究方法，并被视为尊重和文化安全的方法，作为主要研究工具。使用原住民方法学和我们的迭代过程使我们能够深入探索并纳入所有参与者的观点，并确保具有实际经验的原住民公民科学家的观点得到重视。数据检查方法还使用了 Yarning 方法，确保从参与者那里得出的研究结果和转化模型得到验证。
参与者包括 24 名年龄≥41 岁的澳大利亚原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民女性，其中包括三代没有在互联网环境中长大的人：老年人、婴儿潮一代和 X 世代。这项研究的主要发现是，老年女性使用各种数字技术来改善自己和家人以及社区的健康和福祉。老年澳大利亚原住民女性希望有一个敏感的网络空间，专门满足她们的需求，并包括可访问和高效的相关内容和功能。我们的转化模型突出了任何人使用数字健康技术所需的条件，总结了促进数字健康公平所需的基本要素，并阐明了老年澳大利亚原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民女性充分受益于数字健康技术的未满足需求和要求。
健康是一项基本权利。随着我们越来越依赖数字健康解决方案，我们必须认识到并解决需求不同的少数人群的关切。我们必须紧急解决老年澳大利亚原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民女性在这项研究中强调的限制公平获取数字健康工具的财务、连接性和其他限制因素。
