Development and initial cognitive testing of the Digital Equity Screening Tool (DEST): Community participatory approach to assessing digital inequality

Pravesh Sharma; Christi A Patten; Jon C Tilburt; Andrea L Cheville; Joshua C Pritchett; LaPrincess C Brewer; Richard O White; Sydney S Kelpin; Monica Albertie; Tabetha A Brockman; Chyke A Doubeni

doi:10.1017/cts.2022.451

Development and initial cognitive testing of the Digital Equity Screening Tool (DEST): Community participatory approach to assessing digital inequality

J Clin Transl Sci. 2022 Aug 25;6(1):e117. doi: 10.1017/cts.2022.451. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Pravesh Sharma^{1

2}, Christi A Patten^{1

3

4}, Jon C Tilburt⁵, Andrea L Cheville⁶, Joshua C Pritchett^{7

8}, LaPrincess C Brewer^{9

10}, Richard O White^{10

11}, Sydney S Kelpin³, Monica Albertie^{4

10}, Tabetha A Brockman^{3

4}, Chyke A Doubeni^{4

10

12}

Affiliations

¹ Behavioral Health Research Program, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
² Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Mayo Clinic Health System, Eau Claire, WI, USA.
³ Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
⁴ Center for Clinical and Translational Science, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
⁵ Biomedical Ethics Research Program, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ, USA.
⁶ Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
⁷ Division of Hematology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
⁸ Division of Medical Oncology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
⁹ Cardiovascular Rehabilitation Program, Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
¹⁰ Center for Health Equity and Community Engagement Research, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA.
¹¹ Division of Community Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
¹² Department of Family Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.

Abstract

COVID-19 has widened the existing digital divide, especially for people from socially and economically deprived communities. We describe a program evaluation using a community participatory approach to develop self-reported items of patient experience with technology inclusive of digital access and literacy. The feedback received from Community Advisory Boards and Community Engagement Studio members led to the evaluation and refinement of the individual items. The community-based participatory approach highlighted in our paper to develop these items could serve as a model for other screening tool development for enhancing equity and inclusiveness in clinical care and research.

Keywords: COVID-19; Digital access and literacy; community advisory board; community engagement; community engagement studio.