Digital and Healthcare Divide (Essay Final draft)

In his TED talk, Molinari (2011) asserts the digital divide is a “new illiteracy”, and it occurs due to people not being able to afford the technology, lacking the skills of using it, and being unaware of the benefits. Having access to Internet should be a right in the digitally revolutionised 21^st century as we are unable to operate without it.

Singapore has worked her way up to being one of the most connected countries in this highly digitalised world. However, there are still minority groups in Singapore, such as the elderly who lack the skills to access the Internet. This has caused repercussions for the elderly such as the decrease in efficacy of healthcare treatments. To resolve this, medical institutions will have to provide healthcare information actively, and government agencies can come up with Information Communication Technology (ICT) bridging courses.

According to Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (iDA) (n.d.c), with Residential Wired Broadband Household Penetration Rate of 106.7% in June 2013, Singapore has positioned herself as one of the most connected countries in the world. However, digital divide still exists. Even with a broadband penetration rate of more than 100%, according iDA (2013) only 84% of the households actually have access to the Internet. While some households are subscribing to multiple broadband lines, others simply cannot afford it. Even if the household are subscribed to broadband lines, there are people, such as the elderly, who lack the required skills to use it. According to iDA (n.d.a), in 2012, only 16% of the people above 60 years old were using the Internet. The elderly who lack access to the Internet is therefore deprived of vital information for aspects such as healthcare. Healthcare information is extremely important for the elderly to allow them to make informed decisions regarding their health.

Lustria, Smith and Hinnant (2011) discuss the importance of having access to health information. In their research, they demonstrate that many studies have shown the various benefits of having access to health information. In another study, Fox and Purcell (2010 as cited in Lockwood et al 2013), observe that 81% of the healthy adults access the Internet frequently while only 52% of those who are diagnosed with chronic illness go online, and they concluded that ceteris paribus, people living with chronic illness have a negative correlation with having access to the Internet. Medical institutions and government agencies such as iDA will have to intervene to increase health information seeking among the elderly.

One of the many ways to bridge this disparity will be for medical institutions to actively disseminate healthcare information down the patient network via means such as mobile phone messaging service. Miloh (2009, as cited in Lockwood et al 2013) observes that after a text message reminder system has been implemented, there is a vast improvement in medication adherence and a decrease in rejection among pediatric liver transplant patients. With a successful framework already set up, we can further improve it by incorporating the dissemination of healthcare information. The patient will have to subscribe to this service and choose their preferred language. The healthcare messages keep the patient informed about their current conditions and provide tips to boost their recovery. Even after the patients have recovered, they can continue with this service for advices on post recovery and even tips for healthy lifestyle.

With Singapore having a mobile penetration rate of 156% in 2013 (iDA, n.d.c), we may safely assume that almost everyone owns a mobile phone. It is very crucial for the patient to own a mobile phone as this serves as a medium for information. Since medical institutions are already employing the use of mobile phone messaging for confirmation of appointments, they will not need to set up the Information Technology (IT) infrastructure from scratch, resulting in a huge amount of cost savings. With healthcare information readily available online, some people may view the messaging service to be a spam, and would be reluctant to subscribe to the messaging service. Although this service will be made available to all, the target audience of this service will be the elderly who have limited access to the Internet, opinions of the people who have access to the Internet will not affect the feasibility of this initiative. At the same time, the information obtained online may be dubious and lead to an adverse effect on the patient. With proper publicity, this service may attract more users than just those who lack access to the Internet as these are precious advice directly from the medical experts.

What some of the elderly lack are the skills to access the Internet. In 2007, iDA launched The Silver Infocomm Initiative (SII). The SII is a programme that aims to bridge the digital divide for the senior citizens in Singapore (iDA). This programme includes two parts, the Silver Infocomm Hotspots and Junctions. The first part will focus mainly on providing the facilities for the elderly to access the Internet by setting up 100 free hotspots island-wide in accessible location for the elderly, such as community centres. The second part will focus on imparting the skills of accessing the internet to the elderly. The senior citizens will be grouped based on their education background, language and their ability to use ICTs. Lessons on how to use the computer and the Internet will then be conducted based on the groups they are in. This will allow the senior citizens to be competent in using the Internet.

The elderly are divided into different classes and with the lessons being planned according to their choice of language and the experience they have with IT. This may facilitate their learning process and also provide them with a good learning experience. This programme is extremely feasible as it targets the root cause of the problem, digital divide, by providing both facilities and skills. However, the participation rate of the programme may be low, unless the programme is being publicised properly.

Efficacy of healthcare treatment increases when patients have access to more healthcare information. At the same time, with healthcare information, people will be able to make informed decisions for a healthy lifestyle. With so many benefits closely related to having access to healthcare information, medical institutes and government agencies such as iDA should participate actively to provide access to healthcare information. Medical institutes being a ‘bank’ for healthcare information, can provide the patients with these information through mediums such as mobile phone messages to bridge the information disparity directly, while government agencies can provide both the hardware and ‘software’ for the elderly by providing them the hardware and equipping them with the necessary skills access to the Internet to bridge the digital divide directly.

References

Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (2013). Annual Survey on Infocomm Usage in Households and by Individuals for 2012. Retrieved from

http://www.ida.gov.sg/~/media/Files/Infocomm%20Landscape/Facts%20and%20Figures/SurveyReport/2012/2012HHmgt.pdf

Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (n.d.a). Infocomm Usage- Household and Individuals. Retrieved from

http://www.ida.gov.sg/Infocomm-Landscape/Facts-and-Figures/Infocomm-Usage-Households-and-Individuals#3

Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (n.d.b). Silver Infocomm Initiative. Retrieved from

http://www.ida.gov.sg/Individuals-and-Community/Community-Development/Silver-Infocomm-Initiative

Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (n.d.c). Statistics: Telecommunications. Retrieved from

http://www.ida.gov.sg/Infocomm-Landscape/Facts-and-Figures/Telecommunications

Lockwood, M. B., Saunders, M. R., Lee, C. S., Becker, Y. T., Josephson, M. A. & Chon, W. J. (2013, December). Kidney Transplant and digital divide: is information and communication technology a barrier or a bridge to transplant for African Americans? [Electronic version]. Progress in transplantation vol 23, No.4, 302-309

Lustria, M. L. A., Smith, S. A., & Hinnant, C. C. (2011). Exploring digital divides: An examination of eHealth technology use in health information seeking, communication and personal health information management in the USA [Electronic version]. Health Informatics Journal, 225-244.

Molinari, A. (2011, August). Let’s bridge the digital divide! Retrieved from

http://www.ted.com/talks/aleph_molinari_let_s_bridge_the_digital_divide

Weaver, J. B. III., Mays, D., Weaver, S. S., Hopkins, G. L., Eroğlu, D. & Bernhardt, J. M. (2010, August). Health Information- Seeking Behaviours, Health Indicators, and Health Risks. [Electronic version]. American Journal of Public Health vol 100, No. 8, 1520-1525

Reader Response (Final) (Global digital divide persists but is narrowing)

Euromonitor's blogpost on ‘Global digital divide persists but is narrowing’ (2011) makes inferences from the statistics provided by Euromonitor International that developed economies will continue to enjoy higher broadband diffusion rate due to larger government expenditure, advanced IT framework and higher wages that allow ownership of computers. It also mentions that the developing countries are slowly catching up due to the rapid economic growth. This has led to a wide range of effects on the society, such as varying business opportunities, reduction in urban-rural disparities with better information diffusion, social and cultural integration and alteration in government expenditure and policies.

In this blogpost, the author has raised many interesting general trends related to global digital divide. The length of the blogpost coupled with the scale of the topic restricted the author from discussing the trends specific to the countries. I believe that it is also very important to look deeper into the general trends as digital divide is often seen as a divide between the urban and the rural area. With every country having their own unique population demographics, ideals and goals, it is bound to affect the trends of digital divide differently. In this response, I will explore how the population demographic and goals of China may have affected the digital divide.

An issue that the Euromonitor International blogpost fails to point out is the rural-urban disparity. This is very evident in most countries in the world. It is stated in the Go-Globe blogpost (2013) on ‘Internet usage in China- Statistics and Trends [Infographic]’ that 72.4% of the Internet users in China lives in urban areas, leaving the remaining 27.6% of the Internet users in rural areas. According to The World Bank’s statistic, 53% of China’s population lives in the urban area as of 2013. With similar urban and rural population size, the urban population has close to 3 times the amount of internet users as compared to the rural population. Even with the exceptional growth of Internet penetration rate in China, most of it is attributed to the urban areas as they have better Information Technology (IT) framework and more attention from the government due to the many benefits that can be reaped such as economic growth and recognition. This is very evident from the exponential economic growth, development and recognition experienced by states like Shanghai and Beijing which became international business hubs in the recent years. However, much more effort and resources will be needed to develop the rural regions into successful business hubs and achieve similar results seen in Shanghai and Beijing. The large potential cost of development deters the Chinese government from placing more resources in the rural areas. This results in stagnation in growth for rural areas while urban areas develops at exponential rates. The difference in growth will eventually lead to a widening rural-urban disparity, resulting in many other negative implications such as widening income gap and more importantly, widening digital divide.

The Euromonitor International blogpost has pointed out various trends and analysed the demographics for Internet penetration rate, and is well supported with statistics. It also discussed the possible reasons and implications of these trends. However, in the case of China, it is obvious that the growth is not uniform between rural and urban areas and these will lead to many other social implications in the long run. Therefore, I believe that it is also very important to analyse the population demographic of a country thoroughly by comparing different population groups accordingly to identify any underlying trends and observations. Given the amount of research, studies and observations required to fully analyse a country’s demographics, it may be too much to ask for a blogpost. Overall, it is a very informative blogpost as it not only allows me to broaden my understanding on Internet penetration rates and its impacts, but also gave me a chance to explore demographics that people have always failed to discuss due to the scale of the topic. 

References:

Euromonitor International. (2011, February 2). Global digital divide persists but is narrowing. Retrieved August 25, 2014, from http://blog.euromonitor.com/2011/02/global-digital-divide-persists-but-is-narrowing-1.html

Go-Globe. (2013, August 14). Internet Usage in China – Statistics and Trends [Infographic]. Retrieved September 5, 2014 from http://www.go-globe.com/blog/internet-usage-china/

The World Bank. (n.d.). Urban Population (% of total). Retrieved September 5, 2014 from http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS

Digital and Healthcare Divide (Draft2)

In his TED talk, Aleph (2011) asserts digital divide is a “new illiteracy”, and it occurs due to people not being able to afford the technology, lacking the skills of using it, and some are simply unaware of the benefits. Having access to Internet should be a right in the digitally revolutionised 21^st century as we are unable to operate without it.

Singapore have worked her way up to being one of the most connected country in this highly digitalised world. However, there are still minority groups in Singapore, such as the elderly who lacks the skills to access the Internet. This has caused repercussions such as the decrease in efficacy of healthcare treatments, and to resolve this, medical institutions will have to provide healthcare information actively, and government agencies can come up with Information Communication Technology (ICT) bridging courses.

According to Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (iDA) (n.d.c), Residential Wired Broadband Household Penetration Rate of 106.7% in June 2013, Singapore has become one of the most connected country in the world. However, digital divide still exists. Even with a broadband penetration rate of more than 100%, according iDA (2013) only 84% of the households actually have access to the Internet. This implies that while some households are subscribing to multiple broadband lines, others simply cannot afford it. Even if the household are subscribed to broadband lines, there are people, such as the elderly, who simply just lack the required skills to use it. According to iDA (n.d.a), in 2012, only 16% of the people above 60 years old are using the Internet. As people age, their body become more prone to illnesses and viruses. The elderly who lack access to the Internet is therefore deprived of vital information for aspects such as healthcare. Healthcare information is therefore extremely important for the elderly to allow them to make informed decisions regarding their health.

Mia, Scott and Charles (2011) discuss the importance of having access to health information. In their research, they realised that many studies have shown the various benefits of having access to health information. Patients are seeking information online so that they can have a better understanding of the information that doctors provided them during the consultation, thus boosting their confidence. This act of information seeking also shows that the patients are more concerned about their own health and they will question the medical professionals more during their visits and will take the doctors’ recommendation more seriously. The strong cooperation of the patient will lead to a more effective treatment.

Fox and Purcell (2010 as cited in Mark, Milda, Christopher, Yolanda, Michelle and James, 2013), observe that 81% of the healthy adults access the Internet frequently while only 52% of those who are diagnosed with chronic illness go online, and they concluded that with all factors being held constant, people living with chronic illness have a negative correlation with having access to the Internet. With the elderly being more prone to chronic illnesses, this further reduces the likelihood for them to have access to the Internet. Medical institutions and government will therefore have to intervene.

One of the many ways we can bridge this disparity will be for medical institutions to actively disseminate healthcare information down the patient network via means such as mobile phone messaging service. Miloh (2009, as cited in Mark, Milda, Christopher, Yolanda, Michelle and James, 2013) discovers that after a text message reminder system has been implemented, there is a vast improvement in medication adherence and a decrease in rejection among pediatric liver transplant patients. With a successful framework already set up, we can further improve it by incorporating the dissemination of healthcare information. The patient will have to subscribe to this service and choose their preferred language. The healthcare messages will be filtered to suit the patient’s needs as different people are suffering from different conditions. These messages will be able to keep the patients informed about their conditions and what they are able to do to boost their recovery. Even after the patients have recovered, they can continue with this service for advices on post recovery and even tips for healthy lifestyle.

With Singapore having a mobile penetration rate of 156% in 2013 (iDA, n.d.c), we may safely assume that almost everyone owns a mobile phone. It is very crucial for the patient to own a mobile phone as this serves as a medium for information. Since medical institutions are already employing the use of mobile phone messaging for confirmation of appointments. They will not need to set up the Information Technology (IT) infrastructure from scratch, resulting in a huge amount of cost savings. However, some people may view these kind of services as a spam and find it a nuisance as they believe that they are able to obtain those information online, therefore unwilling to subscribe to it. Although this service will be made available to all, the target audience of this service will be the elderly who have limited access to the Internet, opinions of the people who have access to the Internet will not affect the feasibility of this initiative. At the same time, the information obtained online may be dubious and lead to an adverse effect on the patient. With proper publicity, this service may attract more users than just those who lack access to the Internet as these are precious advice directly from the medical experts.

As a person ages, their health will start to deteriorate, illnesses are more likely to set in. It is very crucial for the elderlies to gain access to health information and keep themselves healthy. These information are readily available online. What some of the elderly are lacking is the skills to access them. iDA launched The Silver Infocomm Initiative (SII) in 2007. The SII is a programme that aims to bridge the digital divide for the senior citizens in Singapore (iDA). This programme includes two parts, the Silver Infocomm Hotspots and Junctions. The first part will focus mainly on providing the facilities for the elderly to access the Internet by setting up 100 free hotspots island-wide. The second part will focus on imparting the skills of accessing the internet to the elderly. The senior citizens will be grouped based on their education background, language and their ability to use ICTs. Lessons on how to use the computer and the Internet will then be conducted based on the groups they are in. This will be allow the senior citizens to be competent in using the Internet.

With the elderlies being divided into different classes and the lessons will be planned according to their choice of language and the experience they have with IT. This may facilitate their learning process and also provide them with a good learning experience. This programme is extremely feasible as it targets the root cause of the problem, digital divide, by providing both facilities and skills. However, there may be a lack of publicity for this programme, resulting in a low participation rate of this programme, which may render it ineffective.

Access to healthcare information allows people to make more informed decision on healthy lifestyle and also on their medical condition if any. Effectiveness of treatment is also closely related to the amount of information the patients have. With so many benefits closely related to having Internet access, medical institutes and government agencies should participate actively to provide access to healthcare information.

References

Aleph, M. (2011, August). Let’s bridge the digital divide! Retrieved from

http://www.ted.com/talks/aleph_molinari_let_s_bridge_the_digital_divide

Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (2013). Annual Survey on Infocomm Usage in Households and by Individuals for 2012. Retrieved from

http://www.ida.gov.sg/~/media/Files/Infocomm%20Landscape/Facts%20and%20Figures/SurveyReport/2012/2012HHmgt.pdf

Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (n.d.a). Infocomm Usage- Household and Individuals. Retrieved from

http://www.ida.gov.sg/Infocomm-Landscape/Facts-and-Figures/Infocomm-Usage-Households-and-Individuals#3

Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (n.d.b). Silver Infocomm Initiative. Retrieved from

http://www.ida.gov.sg/Individuals-and-Community/Community-Development/Silver-Infocomm-Initiative

Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (n.d.c). Statistics: Telecommunications. Retrieved from

http://www.ida.gov.sg/Infocomm-Landscape/Facts-and-Figures/Telecommunications

James, B.W III., Darren, M., Stephanie, S. W., Gary, L. H., Doğan, E. & Jay, M. B. (2010, August). Health Information- Seeking Behaviours, Health Indicators, and Health Risks. [Electronic version]. American Journal of Public Health vol 100, No. 8, 1520-1525

Mark, B. L., Milda, R. S., Christopher, S. L., Yolanda, T. B., Michelle, A.J. & W. James. C. (2013, December). Kidney Transplant and digital divide: is information and communication technology a barrier or a bridge to transplant for African Americans? [Electronic version]. Progress in transplantation vol 23, No.4, 302-309

Mia, L. A. L., Scott, A.S. and Charles, C. H. (2011, September). Exploring digital divides: An examination of eHealth technology use in health information seeking, communication and personal health information management in the USA [Electronic version]. Health Informatics Journal 225-244

Digital Divide and Healthcare (Draft 1)

Introduction

In his TED talk, Molinari (2011) asserts digital divide is a “new illiteracy”, and it occurs due to people not being able to afford the technology, lacking the skills of using it, and some are simply unaware of the benefits. Having access to Internet should be a right in the digitally revolutionised 21^st century as people simply cannot operate without it. People who are being digitally excluded will lose access to vital information such as health information. This essay will discuss how the loss of information is causing varying levels of effectiveness of healthcare in Singapore between those who have access to Information Communication Technology (ICT) and those who do not, how medical institutions and government agencies can participate actively to bridge this disparity, and evaluate these measures.

Digital Divide and Health

With a Residential Wired Broadband Household Penetration Rate of 106.7% in June 2013(Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (iDA)), Singapore has become one of the most connected country in the world. However, digital divide still exists. Even with a broadband penetration rate of more than 100%, according iDA (2012) only 84% of the households actually have access to the Internet. This implies that while some households are subscribing to multiple broadband lines, others simply cannot afford it. Even if the household are subscribed to broadband lines, there are people, such as the elderlies, who simply just lack the required skills to use it. This minority group is losing vital information for many aspects such as healthcare.

Mia, Scott and Charles (2011) discuss the importance of having access to health information. In their research, they realised that many studies have shown the various benefits of having access to health information. Patients are seeking information online so that they can better understand the information the doctor provides them during the consultation, thus boosting their confidence. This act of information seeking also shows that the patients are more concerned about their own health. They will question the medical professionals more during their visits and will take the doctors’ recommendation more seriously. Fox and Purcell cited in Mark, Milda, Christopher, Yolanda, Michelle and James (2013), observes that 81% of the healthy adults access the Internet frequently while only 52% of those who are diagnosed with chronic illness go online. Those who are chronically illness and visits the Internet frequently are more likely to gain access to health information from various sources. These information will help the patients understand and cope better with their illness. With all these observations, there is no doubt that having access to healthcare information will result in more effective treatments due to higher confidence of well-informed patients.

Mobile phones!

One of the many ways we can bridge this disparity will be for medical institutions to actively disseminate healthcare information down the patient network via means such as mobile phone messaging service. The patient will have to subscribe to this service and choose their preferred language. The healthcare messages will have to be filtered to suit the patient as different people are suffering from different conditions. These messages will be able to keep the patients informed about their conditions and what they are able to do to boost their recovery. Even after the patients have recovered, they can continue with this service for advices on post recovery and even tips for healthy lifestyle.

With Singapore having a mobile penetration rate of 156% in 2013 (iDA), we can safely assume that almost everyone owns a mobile phone. It is very crucial for the patient to own a mobile phone as this serves as a medium for information. Since medical institutions are already employing the use of mobile phone messaging for confirmation of appointments. They will not need to set up the Information Technology (IT) infrastructure from scratch, resulting in a huge amount of cost savings. However, some people may view these kind of services as a spam and find it nuisance as they believe that they are able to obtain those information online, therefore unwilling to subscribe to it. Although this service will be made available to all, the target audience of this service will be those who have limited access to the Internet. At the same time, the information obtained online might be dubious and lead to an adverse effect on the patient. With proper publicity, this service may attract more users than just those who lack access to the Internet as these are precious advice directly from doctors.

Silver Infocomm Initiative

As a person ages, their health will start to deteriorate, illnesses are more likely to set in. It is very crucial for the elderlies to gain access to health information and keep themselves healthy. These information are readily available online. What some of the elderlies are lacking is the skills to access them. In recent years, iDA have come up with programme to impart the elderlies this set of skills.

The Silver Infocomm Initiative (SII) is a programme that aims to bridge the digital divide for the senior citizens in Singapore (iDA). The senior citizens are split up based on their education background, language and their ability to use ICTs. Lessons on how to use the computer and the Internet will then be conducted based on the groups they are in. This will be allow the senior citizens to be competent in using the Internet.

With the elderlies being divided into different classes and the lessons will be planned according to their choice of language and the experience they have with IT. This will not only smoothen their learning curve, but also allow them to have a good learning experience. This programme is extremely feasible as it targets the root cause of the problem, digital divide. With digital divide causing more problems than just the loss of healthcare information, it is very crucial for us to bridge the divide as much as possible to reduce the negative impacts on society.

Conclusion

Effectiveness of medical treatment depends largely on the amount of information the patients have. With digital divide, some patients are unable to obtain precious healthcare information. Medical institutes and government agencies must participate actively to provide information or skills in order to bridge this healthcare divide.

References

Mark, B. L., Milda, R. S., Christopher, S. L., Yolanda, T. B., Michelle, A.J. & W. James. C. (2013, December). Kidney Transplant and digital divide: is information and communication technology a barrier or a bridge to transplant for African Americans? [Electronic version]. Progress in transplantation vol 23, No.4, 302-309

Mia, L. A. L., Scott, A.S. and Charles, C. H. (2011, September). Exploring digital divides: An examination of eHealth technology use in health information seeking, communication and personal health information management in the USA [Electronic version]. Health Informatics Journal 225-244

Aleph. M. (2011). Lets bridge the digital divide. Retrieved from

http://www.ted.com/talks/aleph_molinari_let_s_bridge_the_digital_divide

http://www.ida.gov.sg/Individuals-and-Community/Community-Development/Silver-Infocomm-Initiative/Silver-Infocomm-Curriculum

http://www.ida.gov.sg/Infocomm-Landscape/Facts-and-Figures/Telecommunications