JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

For many research teams, the role of community stakeholders is critical. However, community stakeholders, especially those who are low-income, are at risk of being excluded from research and community engagement during and after the COVID-19 pandemic due to the rapid transition to digital operations.

Objective:

We aimed to 1) describe the implementation and feasibility of a program (“Addressing the Digital Divide to Improve Patient-Centered Outcomes Research”) designed to address barriers to technology use and 2) examine changes in participants’ perceived comfort with digital technology before and after the program.

Methods:

To promote full engagement, we worked with 20 existing community stakeholders to co-create and implement a training course on using digital technology. We assessed frequency of technology use and technology comfort through an adapted 8-item version of the Functional Assessment of Comfort Employing Technology Scale (FACETS) and utilized Wilcoxon Signed-Rank for survey analysis. We also conducted a focus group with participants, then performed reflective journaling and content analysis to determine emerged themes.

Results:

We found that the program was feasible to implement and worthwhile (94%) for participants. Following the program, the participants perceived increases in technology comfort and frequency of use (z=2.76, p=<.01). The participants reported that the program was successful because of the technology training program, but recommended that the program have a slower pace and a help line number for questions.

Conclusions:

Future programs should consider that populations with low technological literacy view technology training as a core element to decreasing technology disparities. This study demonstrates that through a low-cost input, community members can be provided the resources and training needed to virtually participate in research studies or community engagement.