Can youth ‘click’ their way to health? | La santé en un seul clic?

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Our lab director Shalini Lal, PhD recently wrote a blog post with Lysanne Rivard, PhD, a former alumni of our lab and current research professional working with the Programme In Fieri - Pour l'innovation responsable en santé, led by Pascale Lehoux, PhD, at the Institut de Recherche en Santé Publique de l'Université de Montréal (IRSPUM) entitled: "Can youth 'click' their way to health? Debunking 3 common beliefs about digital natives' access and use of digital health". Read the article here :

Can youth ‘click’ their way to health?
Debunking 3 common beliefs about digital natives’ access and use of digital health

Authors: Lysanne Rivard, Ph.D., Shalini Lal, Ph.D.
July 2018

The image that stereotypes today’s youth is that of a young person typing away on their smartphone with headphones plugged in their ears. In the era of digital health, we might think that digital natives easily access the plethora of health information and tools now available online and via apps.

Indeed, there are numerous research projects that use new information and communication technologies (ICTs) to better reach youth and meet their physical and mental health needs, for example: an app that helps young people better manage their Type 1 diabetes (Holtz et al., 2017) and an online platform designed specifically to meet the needs of young people recovering from a first-episode psychosis (Alvarez-Jimenez et al., 2013; Lal et al., 2018).

However, not all young people have access to the tools required to understand and manage their physical and mental health through digital means as hoped for by digital health developers. Therefore, here are 3 common beliefs that are important to nuance in order to help young people better access and benefit from digital health information and tools:

1. Because ICTs are everywhere, all youth are “digitally connected”
Although the majority of youth uses a computer, a tablet, or a smartphone, experts draw our attention to different types of digital divides. These divides result from socioeconomic factors as well as physical and intellectual capacities that can affect the ability of some young people to acquire, properly use, and benefit from new technologies (Scheerder et al., 2017). These dividing factors are all the more important to consider when it comes to youth’s physical and mental health so that we do not create new barriers to health information and services for youth with differing means or capacities.

2. Youth have access to a large quantity of digital health information in “just a few clicks”
Even though “Dr. Google” now enables us to rapidly access an amount of health information that was unimaginable 20 years ago, digital natives can still find it difficult to use powerful search engines (St.Jean et al., 2015). The skills that are needed when conducting an online search, that is, advanced reading and writing skills as well as knowledge of key terms and medical jargon, are not developed in “just a few clicks.” For instance, an afterschool program can help teach and equip youth with good online search strategies when looking for and finding health information (St.Jean et al., 2015).

3. Access to digital health information helps youth better understand and manage their health
To help combat the proliferation of digital health information that is misleading, incorrect, or manipulated for marketing and commercial ends, information authentication certificates and website and app evaluation tools have been developing over the past few years. For example, there is the HONcode (https://www.hon.ch/HONcode/ from the Health On the Net Foundation and the Mobile App Rating Scale from Stoyanov et al. (2016). Unfortunately, these measures reach few people and most readers and consumers are left on their own when trying to make sense of digital health information that can be contradictory or when following a health program on an app.

Furthermore, young people do not always have the critical analysis skills required to make sense of digital health information and to make an informed and reasoned decision for their physical and mental well-being. For example, some parents have expressed concerns that online activities could increase the risk of relapse for youth who have experienced a first-episode psychosis (Lal et al., 2017).

According to Yoram Eshet, digital literacy “includes a large variety of complex skills such as cognitive, motoric, sociological and emotional skills that users need to master in order to use digital environments effectively (Eshet et al., 2012, p. 267). As such, digital literacy programs, accessed either through school or afterschool programs, are all the more important in today’s society that is constantly producing new ICTs. Though these ICTs evolve and change our ways of working, of accessing information, and of managing our health, the required critical thinking and research skills remain the same and must be developed and practiced just as much as new technical skills.

In conclusion, digital health has an amazing potential to better meet youth’s needs. However, at the dawn of an artificial intelligence revolution in the health field, it is urgent to fully understand sociological and educational barriers, such as the ones listed above, in order to mitigate potentially undesirable effects on the first generations to live through this transition.

References

Alvarez-Jimenez, M., Bendall, S., Lederman, R., Wadley, G., Chinnery, G., Vargas, S., Larkin, M., Killackey, E., McGorry, P. & Gleeson, J. (2013). On the HORYZON: Moderated online social therapy for long-term recovery in first episode psychosis. Schizophrenia Research,(1), 143-149. doi:10.1016/j.schres.2012.10.009

Eshet, Y. (2012). Thinking in the digital era: a revised model for digital literacy. In E. B. Cohen (ed.) Issues in informing science & information technology, volume 9. pp. 267-276.

Holtz, B.E., Murray, K.M., Hershey, D.D., Dunneback, J.K., Cotten, S.R., Holmstrom A.J., Vyas, A., Kaiser, M.K., Wood, M.A. (2017). Developing a patient-centered mHealth app: a tool for adolescents with type 1 diabetes and their parents. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth, 5(4), e53. doi:10.2196/mhealth.6654

Lal, S., Daniel, W., Rivard, L. (2017). Perspectives of family members on using technology in youth mental health care: A qualitative study. JMIR mental health, 4(2), e21. doi: 10.2196/mental.7296

Lal, S., Gleeson, J., Malla, A., Rivard, L., Joober, R., Chandrasena, R., Jimenez, M-A. (2018). Cultural and contextual adaptation of an eHealth intervention for youth receiving services for first-episode psychosis: adaptation framework and protocol for Horyzons- Canada Phase 1. JMIR Research Protocols, 7(4):e100. doi: 10.2196/resprot.8810

Scheerder, A., van Deursen A.,van Dijk, J. (2017). Determinants of internet skills, uses and outcomes. A systematic review of the second- and third-level digital divide. Telematics and Informatics, 34, 1607-1624. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2017.07.007

St. Jean, B., Subramaniam M., Greene Taylor, N., Follman, R., Kodama, C. (2015). The influence of positive hypothesis testing on youths’ online health-related information seeking. New Library World, 116(3/4), 136-154. doi: 10.1108/NLW-07-2014-0084

Stoyanov, S.R., Hides, L., Kavanagh, D.J., Wilson, H. (2016). Development and validation of the user version of the Mobile Application Rating Scagle (uMARS). JMIR Mhealth Uhealth, 4(2), e72. doi:10.2196/mhealth.5849

Check out the infographic from MediaSmarts complementing the blog post as well.

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Notre directrice de laboratoire Shalini Lal, PhD a récemment écrit un blogue avec Lysanne Rivard, PhD, une ancienne membre du laboratoire qui travaille actuellement comme professionnelle de recherche au sein du Programme In Fieri - Pour l'innovation responsable en santé, dirigé par Pascale Lehoux, PhD, à l’Institut de Recherche en Santé Publique de l'Université de Montréal (IRSPUM):  "La santé en un seul clic? Trois idées reçues à propos des jeunes natifs du numérique qu'il faut déboulonner"

Consultez aussi cette infographie de MediaSmarts en complément de ce blogue.