Bhoyar Anjali, Vagha Sunita, Mishra Vedprakash, Agrawal Mahima S, Kambala Seema R
Prosthodontics, Sharad Pawar Dental College and Hospital, Datta Meghe Institute of Higher Education and Research, Wardha, IND.
Pathology, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Datta Meghe Institute of Higher Education & Research, Wardha, IND.
Cureus. 2024 Sep 23;16(9):e70048. doi: 10.7759/cureus.70048. eCollection 2024 Sep.
The disparity in access to essential healthcare resources and services is exacerbated by the digital divide, which presents a significant obstacle to health education. Effective tactics to advance digital equity and provide equitable access to resources for telehealth and digital health are needed to close this gap. Digital databases such as PubMed, MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were used to conduct a systematic review. Keywords and Boolean operators including "digital divide," "health education," "digital equity," "telehealth," "digital health literacy," and "strategies" were used in the literature search process. Only peer-reviewed English-language papers that addressed methods for bridging the digital divide in health education were accepted after being screened in accordance with the preset inclusion and exclusion criteria. The results were compiled using a narrative synthesis method after data were retrieved and synthesized with the aid of suitable quality assessment tools. After satisfying the inclusion criteria, seven papers were added to the systematic review. The results emphasized the complexity of the digital divide in health education and provided a range of approaches to mitigate disparities in access to digital health technologies and resources. The importance of digital equality and universal design, continuous intervention evaluation and monitoring, and enduring obstacles to Internet access and healthcare technology availability were among the major themes. This systematic study emphasizes how critical it is to put evidence-based tactics into practice in order to close the digital divide in health education. Through the promotion of universal design principles, ongoing evaluation of treatments, and digital equity, stakeholders can mitigate health disparities, improve population health, and guarantee equitable access to telehealth and digital health services.
数字鸿沟加剧了获取基本医疗资源和服务方面的差距，这对健康教育构成了重大障碍。需要有效的策略来推进数字公平，并为远程医疗和数字健康提供公平的资源获取途径，以缩小这一差距。使用了诸如PubMed、MEDLINE、Scopus、科学网和谷歌学术等数字数据库进行系统综述。在文献检索过程中使用了包括“数字鸿沟”“健康教育”“数字公平”“远程医疗”“数字健康素养”和“策略”等关键词和布尔运算符。只有经过同行评审的英文论文，在按照预设的纳入和排除标准进行筛选后，若涉及弥合健康教育中数字鸿沟的方法才会被接受。在借助合适的质量评估工具检索和综合数据后，采用叙述性综合方法对结果进行整理。在满足纳入标准后，七篇论文被纳入系统综述。结果强调了健康教育中数字鸿沟的复杂性，并提供了一系列方法来减轻在获取数字健康技术和资源方面的差距。数字平等和通用设计的重要性、持续的干预评估和监测，以及互联网接入和医疗技术可用性方面的持久障碍是主要主题。这项系统研究强调了将循证策略付诸实践对于弥合健康教育中的数字鸿沟有多关键。通过推广通用设计原则、持续评估治疗方法和实现数字公平，利益相关者可以减少健康差距、改善人群健康状况，并确保公平获取远程医疗和数字健康服务。
