DIGITAL HEALTH LITERACY EDUCATION FOR VULNERABLE GROUPS: THE IHERE PROJECT

 

Mirian Fernández Salido¹, Sandra Martínez Molina²

¹Ms., The Research Institute on Social Welfare Policy (POLIBIENESTAR)-University of Valencia, SPAIN, mirian.fernandez-salido@uv.es

²Dr., The Research Institute on Social Welfare Policy (POLIBIENESTAR)-University of Valencia, SPAIN, email: sandra.martinez-molina@uv.es

 

Abstract

Vulnerable social groups face multiple barriers in accessing health services. In this respect, the European Parliament stresses the need to providing healthcare to vulnerable groups, whereas on the other hand health professionals report difficulties in communicating effectively with these groups and barriers to accessing information.  Migrant population has been considered as vulnerable group when it comes to accessing health services due to several factors. Among them, language barriers and barriers to accessing information are highlighted. Moreover, considering the growing and massive implementation of ICTs in society, the low level of digital literacy, lack of financial resources, lack of knowledge of how telematics works, lack of access to the internet are additional difficulties that vulnerable groups such as the older adults, migrants and people at risk of poverty and social exclusion face in accessing health care.

Given this fact, the European project iHEAR has emerged to develop digital tools so that older adults, migrants/refugees and people from low socioeconomic resources can improve their skills to comprehend and make informed choices about their health. Under this general objective, the consortium of this project is made up of eight partners from six different European countries. The main expected outcome of the project is to develop a Digital Health Literacy training for vulnerable groups which can enable the improvement of communication with healthcare providers, and also the quality of life and of their health conditions.  

With the aim to develop a training course adapted to health professionals’ real needs, a literature review has been carried out in six countries (Belgium, Germany, Cyprus, Italy, Spain and Greece) considering the following dimensions and country specific information about vulnerable populations, such as the main health issues that these populations face, the level of health literacy of each group, the health system and professionals features in each country and specific training opportunities regarding Digital Heath Literacy in each country.

The preliminary results have shown that low levels of both Health Literacy and Digital Health Literacy are common in the three vulnerable groups, including also difficulties for accessing health care system, in particular, for migrant and low socioeconomic groups. In migrant population, results have shown that cultural differences and language barriers, as well as a lack of knowledge on how telematics procedures work, the lack of access to the internet and the scarcity of economic resources in general, might cause a low level of digital health literacy and difficulty in accessing health services. In the elderly population, the desk research carried out has identified as the main barriers to digital health literacy are the cognitive decline, the lack of knowledge about Information and Communication Technologies tools and the lack of digital skills, the living area (rural vs urban), phobia on ICT tools as well as the lack of internet. The population at risk of poverty and social exclusion are also at risk of digital exclusion due to the lack of access to ICT. That causes greater misinformation and ultimately fewer personal and health opportunities. The difficulty in identifying training proposals aimed at this population as well as other factors such as the limitations in displacement and availability to attend courses, the economic limitations and the lack of an environment that inspires trust and security, that can be considered as the main barriers affecting this group.

As a consequence, conceding the preliminary results of the iHERE project the low level of Health Literacy and Digital Health Literacy is common in the three vulnerable groups aforementioned, including also difficulties for accessing health care system (specially for migrant and low socioeconomic groups). That’s why the effort of this project will be focused on providing digital education resources adapted to their needs in order to close the gap identified by research carried out.

Keywords: Digital Health Literacy, vulnerable groups, older adults, migrants, refugees, low socioeconomic groups