BackgroundThe implementation of health technology is a national priority in the United States and widely discussed in the literature. However, literature about the use of this technology by historically underserved populations is limited. Information on culturally informed health and wellness technology and the use of these technologies to reduce health disparities facing historically underserved populations in the United States is sparse in the literature.ObjectiveTo examine ways in which technology is being used by historically underserved populations to decrease health disparities through facilitating or improving health care access and health and wellness outcomes.MethodsWe conducted a systematic review in four library databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and Engineering Village) to investigate the use of technology by historically underserved populations. Search strings consisted of three topics (eg, technology, historically underserved populations, and health).ResultsA total of 424 search phrases applied in the four databases returned 16,108 papers. After review, 125 papers met the selection criteria. Within the selected papers, 30 types of technology, 19 historically underserved groups, and 23 health issues were discussed. Further, almost half of the papers (62 papers) examined the use of technology to create effective and culturally informed interventions or educational tools. Finally, 12 evaluation techniques were used to assess the technology.ConclusionsWhile the reviewed studies show how technology can be used to positively affect the health of historically underserved populations, the technology must be tailored toward the intended population, as personally relevant and contextually situated health technology is more likely than broader technology to create behavior changes. Social media, cell phones, and videotapes are types of technology that should be used more often in the future. Further, culturally informed health information technology should be used more for chronic diseases and disease management, as it is an innovative way to provide holistic care and reminders to otherwise underserved populations. Additionally, design processes should be stated regularly so that best practices can be created. Finally, the evaluation process should be standardized to create a benchmark for culturally informed health information technology.

In the context of health care, culture can influence the way a patient understands health information, what they consider a health problem, how they express symptoms, who should provide them treatment, and what type of treatment they should be provided. This panel will discuss why human factors professionals should consider the patient’s culture when designing and evaluating health information technology and approaches to developing culturally informed technologies. The discussion will begin by highlighting work from a general cultural group: racial and ethnic minorities. It will then become more specific by looking at cultural groups within a certain disease: Black female college students and HIV/AIDS, Hispanic and African American diabetes patients, and lesbians during pregnancy and childbirth. The panelists will focus on lessons learned from previous research within each of these cultural groups that can be applied to the overall design of culturally-informed health IT.

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Culture influences how healthcare is received, what is considered to be a health problem, how symptoms are expressed, who should provide treatment, and what type of treatment should be provided. Culturallyinformed health technology can result in higher adoption rates and can mitigate access barriers facing culturally diverse populations. Unfortunately, culture is not often considered in the design of health technology. Three design considerations are suggested as high-level guidelines for the development of culturally-informed health technology. First, designers should conduct formative research, which includes methods such as focus groups, interviews with key informants, surveys, and field notes, in the early phases of design. Second, health technology designers should choose an appropriate type of technology for the intended population. Third, designers should consider culture when deciding how to present the information. For instance, the information should be presented in the correct language, at the correct educational level, and by someone of a similar culture to the end user. A model is presented to illustrate a potential process of designing culturally-informed health Information Technology. Future research should investigate potential relationships, health consumer culture, and design needs.

The purpose of this study was to better understand user trust in web sites designed for different contexts; commerce, health and news. This research evaluated changes in trust ratings as users interacted with website elements. Differences in user trust ratings were observed between websites, which suggests that these changes in trust ratings are likely related to the website context. Therefore, people may develop different thresholds for trust based on concepts of usability, privacy, and content that are related to the website context. Finally, these results can also be used to inform the design of web sites to foster user trust in websites designed for different contexts