ABSTRACT
Based on interviews with 75 women transitioning from incarceration, our research identifies technology access and skills barriers facing this population and their underlying concerns and motivations in navigating privacy online. Our results suggest precarious housing and financial situations, concerns about ex-partners, mental health issues, and lack of self-efficacy pose challenges for their access to and use of digital technologies and influence their online privacy perspectives. Many participants reported relying primarily on cellphones for various tasks including job applications. Closing public places including libraries amid the COVID-19 pandemic put them at an even greater disadvantage, as many of them depend on computers or Wi-Fi available in those places. Nothing-to-lose attitudes were salient among this group resulting in many not taking precautionary measures online or choosing to go offline. Our research highlights the importance of building academic-community partnerships to provide technology and privacy education tailored for this population's particular needs and desires. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the urgency to bridge the digital divide, as those without reliable internet, adequate devices, and digital literacy skills were severely disadvantaged when most essential activities moved online. This study examines how the pandemic has affected women recently released from jail or prison, a group that was already at a disadvantage in terms of digital access and skills even before the pandemic. Our interviews with 45 women in transition show that their lack of stable access to the internet and digital devices during the pandemic influenced their post-incarceration supervision requirements, job applications, educational opportunities, and others. These women navigated the challenges by working with their social connections (e.g., friends and neighbors) and relying on emergency resources deployed by local institutions during the pandemic. Those staying in transitional houses before being fully released into communities indicated that they often depended on facility staff or family/friends in the community for pandemic-related information due to their limited access to the internet in those facilities. These and other findings from this research provide insights into the technological challenges and needs of marginalized women during the public health crisis. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
Based on interviews with 75 women transitioning from incarceration, our research identifies technology access and skills barriers facing this population and their underlying concerns and motivations in navigating privacy online. Our results suggest precarious housing and financial situations, concerns about ex-partners, mental health issues, and lack of self-efficacy pose challenges for their access to and use of digital technologies and influence their online privacy perspectives. Many participants reported relying primarily on cellphones for various tasks including job applications. Closing public places including libraries amid the COVID-19 pandemic put them at an even greater disadvantage, as many of them depend on computers or Wi-Fi available in those places. Nothing-to-lose attitudes were salient among this group resulting in many not taking precautionary measures online or choosing to go offline. Our research highlights the importance of building academic-community partnerships to provide technology and privacy education tailored for this population?s particular needs and desires.