Overcoming the Digital Divide in the Post-COVID-19 "Reset": Enhancing Group Virtual Visits with Community Health Workers

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Megha Shah, Emory University; Ashley Christina Gibbs, Emory University; Mohammed Ali, Emory University; Venkat KM Narayan, Emory University; Nadia Islam, NYU
• Language: English
• Date: 2021-07-08
• Publisher: JMIR PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: ©Megha K Shah, Ashley Christina Gibbs, Mohammed K Ali, K M Venkat Narayan, Nadia Islam. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://www.jmir.org), 08.07.2021.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/27682
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH
• Volume: 23
• Issue: 7
• Start Page: e27682
• End Page: e27682
• Grant/Funding Information: NI is partially supported by the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (grants R01DK110048-01A1, R18DK110740, and P30 DK111022R01DK11048), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (grant 1UG3HL151310), and National Center for Advancing Translational Science (grant UL1TR001445); and by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (grant U48DP001904).; MKA and KMV received support from P30DK111024 awarded by the Georgia Center for Diabetes Translation Research, funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.; This study was supported by National Institute on Minority Healthy and Health Disparities (K23 MD015088-01 and 3U54MD000538-17S1).; The funders did not play a role in the design, collection, analysis, or drafting of the manuscript.
• Keywords: COVID-19; health equity; Science & Technology; diabetes mellitus; community health workers; virtual; SYSTEMS; elderly; Health Care Sciences & Services; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; eHealth; vulnerable populations; Medical Informatics; telemedicine; CARE
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic created numerous barriers to the implementation of participant-facing research. For most, the pandemic required rapid transitioning to all virtual platforms. During this pandemic, the most vulnerable populations are at highest risk of falling through the cracks of engagement in clinical care and research. Nonetheless, we argue that we should reframe the discussion to consider how this transition may create opportunities to engage extensively to reach populations. Here, we present our experience in Atlanta (Georgia, United States) in transitioning a group visit model for South Asian immigrants to a virtual platform and the pivotal role community members in the form of community health workers can play in building capacity among participants. We provide details on how this model helped address common barriers to group visit models in clinical practice and how our community health worker team innovatively addressed the digital challenges of working with an elderly population with limited English proficiency.