Similar to social determinants of health — how the places where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship and age affect health, functioning, quality-of-life outcomes and health risks — digital determinants of health relates to how a person’s ability and preference to interact with and use certain types of health information technology could affect their health outcomes and well-being, according to TechTarget.com.
Deeper Dive
This concept is still pretty new and there is not yet a standard definition. But digital determinants of health could include factors like:
- Ease of use
- Usefulness
- Interactivity
- Digital literacy
- Digital accessibility like broadband access
- Digital availability
- Digital affordability
- Algorithmic bias
- Technology personalization
- Data poverty and information asymmetry
There is a strong link between social and digital determinants of health, with the difference being that digital determinants of health concern the technology itself. For example, the TechTarget article notes, a patient with limited English proficiency might not be able to use a health system’s patient portal if it is only offered in English. Language proficiency is a social determinant of health but the patient portal being offered only in one language is a digital determinant of health.