Currently submitted to: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Aug 18, 2026
Open Peer Review Period: Aug 19, 2026 - Oct 14, 2026
(currently open for review)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Digital Engagement among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Population: A qualitative study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Digital engagement among adults can impact healthcare outcomes and patient engagement; however there are barriers to utilizing digital tools.
Objective:
This study explored those barriers and facilitators to digital engagement among English and Spanish speaking adults in Houston, Texas.
Methods:
We conducted 4 focus groups, 2 in English and 2 in Spanish.
Results:
In this paper authors present the themes that emerged among them including, (1) Digital Literacy and Technology, (2) Trust, Privacy, and Security Concerns, (3) Support System and Workarounds, (4) Usability and Accessibility, (5) Communication Preferences, and (6) Digital Health Engagement. Results suggest participants desire simplicity, quick access, and easy to understand digital tools. Participants expressed familiarity with utilizing digital tools and accepted how advanced technology was a part of the world today. Participants shared frustrations and fears when providing health data to their providers. They also provided insights into educational information that might help facilitate utilization of digital tools.
Conclusions:
Findings from our study could inform the importance of customizing and personalizing digital tools for culturally and linguistically diverse populations served within hospital systems to optimize their adaptation and effectiveness.
Citation
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.