The Digital Divide in the Era of COVID-19: An Investigation into an Important Obstacle to the Access to the mHealth by the Citizen

Abstract

In general, during the COVID-19 pandemic there has been a growth in the use of digital technological solutions in many sectors, from that of consumption, to Digital Health and in particular to mobile health ( mHealth) where an important role has been played by mobile technology ( mTech). However, this has not always happened in a uniform way. In fact, in many cases, citizens found themselves unable to take advantage of these opportunities due to the phenomenon of the Digital Divide (DD). It depends on multifaceted aspects ranging from the lack of access to instrumental and network resources, to cultural and social barriers and also to possible forms of communication disability. In the study we set ourselves the articulated goal of developing a probing methodology that addresses the problems connected to DD in a broad sense, capable of minimizing the bias of a purely electronic submission and evaluating its effectiveness and outcome. At the moment, we have submitted the survey both electronically (with an embedded solution to spread it inside the families/acquaintances) and using the wire phone. The results highlighted three polarities (a) the coherence of the two methods; (b) the outcome of the entire submission in relation to key issues (e.g., familiarity on contact tracing Apps, medical Apps, social Apps, messaging Apps, Digital-health, non-medical Apps); (c) a Digital Divide strongly dependent on age and in particular for the elderly is mainly evident in the use of mTech in general and in particular in mHealth applications. Future developments of the study foresee, after adequate data-mining, an in-depth study of all the aspects proposed in the survey, from those relating to access to resources, training, disability and other cultural factors.