Projektdetails

Digital health innovations have the potential to improve health outcomes and increase access, for example, by providing services for individuals in remote locations or enabling interventions in low-resource settings. In the case of health information, it is easier than ever to find and share information about health-related topics through the internet, expanding access to groups that struggle to access traditional medical information sources. However, digital health tools also have the potential to perpetuate or even widen existing health inequities. For health-related information, that accessibility also comes with a wide availability of health misinformation. Some groups are more vulnerable to these risks than others, such those with lower socioeconomic status. Hence, these groups, which already experience poorer health outcomes, stand the least to gain from digital health.

To understand the ways in which social inequalities affect misinformation, a comprehensive framework is needed. This PhD research aims to develop a framework to understand how social inequalities impact misinformation and privacy in digital health environments. The project begins with a scoping review to investigate the role of social inequality in human interactions with digital health misinformation. The findings will inform the development of a process model identifying key entry points for inequality in the misinformation process. Two empirical projects will then be conducted to test and refine the model, addressing gaps in understanding. By adopting a participatory approach and engaging with affected communities, the research findings will be grounded in users’ needs and acknowledge the obstacles they face in the digital health domain.