Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Mental Health
Date Submitted: Jul 18, 2018
Open Peer Review Period: Jul 21, 2018 - Sep 15, 2018
Date Accepted: Dec 15, 2018
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Crossing the Digital Divide – Smartphone and Internet Access and Utilisation by People with Schizophrenia
ABSTRACT
Background:
Information and interventions for mental illness are increasingly being provided on-line. There is an expectation that citizens have access to the internet and are competent in using technology. People with schizophrenia are often excluded from social engagement, have cognitive impairment and have very limited income; all of which may reduce their use of technology.
Objective:
This study investigated access and use of digital technology amongst people with schizophrenia.
Methods:
Face-to-face structured interviews with 50 people with schizophrenia (18-65 years) living in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia were undertaken, using an instrument designed to assess technology access and utilisation.
Results:
Most participants (84%) owned a mobile phone, but only 58% owned a smartphone Two thirds of participants (66%) had access to the internet at home, using a smartphone or computer. Forty percent used the internet at least daily, but 30% had never accessed the internet from any device. About half (48%) had ever used Facebook. Participants rarely used community facilities (libraries, cafes) to access the internet. There were no significant differences (P>0.05) between younger (18-34 years) and older (35-64 years) participants in internet or smartphone access, or confidence using technology.
Conclusions:
Technology access and literacy was limited in this population. This is a barrier to the online delivery of information and interventions for people with schizophrenia.
Citation
Per the author's request the PDF is not available.
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.