The Digital Divide and Veterans’ Health: Differences in Self-Reported Health by Internet Usage

Abstract

The digital divide's implications on health inequality among American Military veterans has been discussed extensively in research; however, it remains unclear what is the association between Internet usage and health specifically among Veterans. We examine this question by addressing the growing digital gaps in the veteran population, looking at the association of Internet use and self-reported health. Using the National Survey of Veterans we find that compared to those who use the Internet daily, those who use the Internet less frequently have significantly higher odds of reporting “fair” or “poor” self-rated health. The significant association remained when demographic, socioeconomic, and military factors were controlled. While our results indicate that veterans that use the Internet more frequently report more favorable self-reported health, given our data we are unable to distinguish a causal relationship. We conclude by discussing potential policy interventions, targeting helping those who are left behind.

Digital Health Information Disparities in Older Adults: a Mixed Methods Study

“…Those individuals who were older, less educated, poorer, and/ or members of an ethnic minority group (African American, Afro-Caribbean, or Hispanic American) were up to five times less likely to have access to digital health information than were those who were younger and more highly educated, had a higher income, or were European Americans. These results are similar to those of Swed and colleagues, Levine and colleagues, and others who found low levels of access to digital health information in older, poorer, minority, and immigrant groups [13][14][15]17].…”

“…The ultimate goal of most digital health information development is to have an informed patient [17]. It is time to place the patient in the center of integrated healthcare systems, not at the periphery with technology facilitating the operation of the system.…”

“…Swed and colleagues conducted a similar analysis of data from the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics (NCVAS) on a nationally representative sample of 8509 veterans, 91% of whom were male, 11% Black [17]. While they too found similar determinants of Internet usage, their results also provide empirical support for the importance of addressing this digital divide: veterans who used the Internet only once a month or less had 81% higher odds of reporting poor health independent of socioeconomic factors.…”

Model of social protection for war veterans to improve their social well-being and health in the Russian Federation

“…Social well-being is considered as an integral indicator of adaptation (Krupets, 2003) and as an indicator of the quality of life of older people (Xavier and Ferraz, 2003;Burnell et al, 2017;Swed et al, 2020;Googe, 2020).…”

Consistent Honor, Persistent Disadvantage: American Indian and Alaska Native Veteran Health in the National Survey of Veterans

“…We also analyze if the health disparities are concentrated in older adulthood. Thus, we not only contribute to past research on racial inequality among military veterans ( Sheehan et al, 2015 ; Swed et al, 2018 ) and research on the health of the AI/AN veteran population ( Kaufman et al, 2013 ; 2020 ; Koo et al, 2015 ) but also systematically analyze why such striking health disparities may be apparent and when they might occur.…”