Participatory Research Methods for Investigating Digital Health Literacy

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES AND PRE/PERI-NATAL APPS ARE TRANSFORMING MATERNITY CARE AS WOMEN USE COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES TO OBTAIN INFORMATION AND SUPPORT. WOMEN FROM CULTURALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY DIVERSE (CALD) BACKGROUNDS EXPERIENCE INFORMATION AND SUPPORT GAPS, HOWEVER, RESEARCH ON NEW HEALTH COMMUNICATIONS HAS RARELY ENGAGED WITH THIS GROUP, RAISING CONCERNS ABOUT THE APPLICABILITY OF THESE TECHNOLOGIES WITH HIGHLY DIVERSE COMMUNITIES. THE GOAL OF THIS PILOT STUDY LOCATED IN IN NORTH RICHMOND, A CULTURALLY DIVERSE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF MELBOURNE, WAS TO TEST THE VALUE OF “DESIGN PROBES” IN ENGAGING WOMEN FROM CALD BACKGROUNDS IN DISCUSSIONS ABOUT HEALTH TRACKING AND WEARABLE HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES IN THE CONTEXT OF PREGNANCY AND PARENTING. THIS STUDY FOUND THAT DESIGN PROBES WERE EFFECTIVE IN ENABLING PARTICIPANTS TO PARTICIPATE IN EXTENDED DISCUSSIONS ON THE IMPLICATIONS OF DIGITAL HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES. PARTICIPANTS WERE AWARE OF THE WAYS THAT HEALTH INFORMATION SERVED THE NEEDS OF MULTIPLE ENTITIES, AND SOUGHT MORE CONTROL OVER WHERE AND WITH WHOM THEIR DATA WAS SHARED WITH.