Elaine C. Khoong|Natalie A. Rivadeneira|Robert A. Hiatt|Urmimala Sarkar
The Use of Technology for Communicating With Clinicians or Seeking Health Information in a Multilingual Urban Cohort: Cross-Sectional Survey
San Francisco General Hospital|University of California, San Francisco|San Francisco General Hospital|University of California, San Francisco|UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center|University of California, San Francisco|San Francisco General Hospital|University of California, San Francisco
technology increasingly used communicate health information limited knowledge whether strategies effective vulnerable populations including nonenglish speaking lowincome individualsthis study assessed language preferences eg english spanish chinese smartphone ownership type clinic usual source care eg usual source care nonintegrated safety net integrated safety net private community clinic academic tertiary medical center integrated payerprovider affect technology use healthrelated communicationfrom may september 2017 administered nonrandom targeted survey 1027 english spanish chinesespeaking san francisco residents used weighted multivariable logistic regression analyses assess predictors five technology use outcomes three primary predictors interestlanguage preference smartphone ownership type clinic usual carewere adjusted age gender race ethnicity limited english proficiency educational attainment health literacy health status three outcomes focused use email sms text message phone apps communicate clinicians two outcomes use webbased health videos online health support groupsnearly onethird participants watched webbased health videos 3671027 3574 used emails communicate clinician 3181027 3096 adjusted analyses individuals without smartphones significantly lower odds texting clinician adjusted odds ratio aor 027 95 ci 013056 using online health support groups aor 014 95 ci 004055 watching webbased health videos aor 031 95 ci 015064 relative englishspeaking survey respondents individuals preferred chinese lower odds texting clinician aor 025 95 ci 008079 whereas spanishspeaking survey respondents lower odds using apps communicate clinicians aor 034 95 ci 016075 joining online support group aor 030 95 ci 010092 respondents received care clinic affiliated integrated safety net academic tertiary medical center integrated payerprovider systems higher odds individuals without usual source care using emails sms text messages apps communicate cliniciansin vulnerable populations smartphone ownership increases use many forms technology health purposes device ownership sufficient increase use technologies communicating clinicians language preference impacts use technology health purposes even considering english proficiency health system factors impact patients use technologyenabled approaches communicating clinicians single factor associated higher odds using technology health purposes therefore existing disparities use digital health tools among diverse vulnerable populations addressed using multipronged approach