Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Jun 23, 2020
Date Accepted: Mar 17, 2021
Date Submitted to PubMed: Apr 9, 2021
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited.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.
Addressing the Digital Inverse Care Law in the Time of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): Potential for Digital Technology to Exacerbate or Mitigate Health Inequalities
ABSTRACT
Digital technologies have been transforming the ways in which health care is delivered, and have been embraced within the health, social and public response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this has brought the ‘digital inverse care law’ into sharp focus, as those who are most in need of support (in particular older people and people experiencing social deprivation) are often those who are also the least likely to engage with digital platforms. The response to COVID-19 represents a sustained shift to adopting digital approached to working and engaging with the populations that will continue beyond this pandemic. Therefore it is important that we understand the underlying factors of digital inequalities, and act to prevent against digital inequality contributing to health inequalities in the future.
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