Assessing mHealth: Opportunities and Barriers to Patient Engagement

The Digital Divide and Health Disparities: a Pilot Study Examining the Use of Short Message Service (SMS) for Colonoscopy Reminders

“…Despite the ubiquity of mobile phones, increased attention must be focused on technology that accommodates low literacy and non-English languages to avoid promotion of a digital divide and widening health disparities [16]. For example, researchers need to consider that for many individuals, especially those from low-income backgrounds, cellular plans may not provide SMS as a component of base rates for mobile plans [17]. Furthermore, while mHealth technologies have the potential to improve population health outcomes, the use of SMS still requires a certain level of literacy.…”

Multidisciplinary Smartphone-Based Interventions to Empower Patients With Acute Coronary Syndromes: Qualitative Study on Health Care Providers’ Perspectives (Preprint)

“…In addition, older age and lack of technical skills may delay the use of smartphone applications to provide education and support in elderly populations. While the mobile platform remains flexible to engage patients via multimedia materials such as written, spoken or even video interactions, there is a need to consider how the elderly or individuals without advanced technical skills will interact with the device or participate in the intervention [33].…”

Using text messages to improve patient–doctor communication among racial and ethnic minority adults: An innovative solution to increase influenza vaccinations

“…mHealth refers to the use of mobile technology to improve health outcomes and healthcare services at a low cost (Martin, 2012). An mHealth campaign using text messages may be especially effective at reaching racial and ethnic minorities, as 85% of Blacks and 87% of Hispanics send and receive text messages (Duggan, 2013).…”