Health disparity in digital health technology design

The rapid development of digital health technology has transformed the current medical practice. However, lack of consideration for underserved groups during design process can exacerbate the existing health disparities, lead to unequal access to health care information and potentially worsen the health outcome. Our study aims to address these issues by providing insights of digital health design to improve health outcome among underserved communities.

This review paper studies the primary literature of health applications/tools that designed for underserved communities. Following PRISMA guideline, we performed a scoping review by searching published articles in five databases between January 1990 to October 2023.

Eighteen articles were included in final review. Six main themes were identified by evaluating the functionalities of reviewed health applications/tools. These themes are feature categorization, user-centered design, iteration, messaging service, behavior change technique, and interactivity.

Our review suggests that designing health applications that are inclusive and accessible for diverse populations can better address health disparities issues. It is important that government, research institutions and industry should work together to advance application design and close the gap for health disparities.