Advancing digital health Equity: Directions for behavioral and social science research.

The field of digital health is evolving rapidly and encompasses a wide range of complex and changing technologies used to support individual and population health. The COVID-19 pandemic has augmented digital health expansion and significantly changed how digital health technologies are used. To ensure that these technologies do not create or exacerbate existing health disparities, a multi-pronged and comprehensive research approach is needed. In this commentary, we outline five recommendations for behavioral and social science researchers that are critical to promoting digital health equity. These recommendations include: (i) centering equity in research teams and theoretical approaches, (ii) focusing on issues of digital health literacy and engagement, (iii) using methods that elevate perspectives and needs of underserved populations, (iv) ensuring ethical approaches for collecting and using digital health data, and (v) developing strategies for integrating digital health tools within and across systems and settings. Taken together, these recommendations can help advance the science of digital health equity and justice.

The field of digital health is quickly growing and changing. Digital health technologies have the potential to increase access to health-related information and healthcare and improve wellbeing, but it is important that those technologies don't widen existing health disparities or create new ones. Behavioral and social science researchers have a key role to play in centering equity in their research teams and theoretical approaches, focusing on key barriers to access, uptake, and usage, studying digital health in ways that elevate the voices and needs of historically underserved groups, being thoughtful about how digital health data are collected and used, and making sure that digital health tools are designed to be used in real-world settings.

COVID-19 Health Disparities and Adverse Social Determinants of Health.

Racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare and health outcomes are longstanding. The real-time emergence of COVID-19 disparities has heightened the public and scientific discourse about structural inequities contributing to the greater risk of morbidity and mortality among racial and ethnic minority populations and other underserved groups. A key aspect of assuring health equity is addressing social determinants that lead to adverse health outcomes among minoritized groups. This article presents an exploratory social determinants of health (SDOH) conceptual framework for understanding racial and ethnic COVID-19 disparities, including factors related to health and healthcare, socioeconomics, and environmental determinants. The model also illustrates the backdrop of structural racism and discrimination, which directly affect health and COVID-19 exposure risk, and thus transmission, infection, and death. We also describe a special SDOH collection in the PhenX Toolkit (consensus measures for Phenotypes and eXposures), which includes established measures to promote standardization of assessment and the use of common data elements in research contexts. The use of common constructs, measures, and data elements are important for data integration, understanding the causes of health disparities, and evaluating interventions to reduce them. Substandard SDOH are among the primary drivers of health disparities-and scientific approaches to address these key concerns require identification and leveled alignment with the root causes. The overarching goal of this discussion is to broaden the consideration of mechanisms by which populations with health disparities face additional SARS-CoV-2 exposure risks, and to encourage research to develop interventions to reduce SDOH-associated disparities in COVID-19 and other conditions and behaviors.

Behavioral and social science in support of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination: National Institutes of Health initiatives.

Control of the COVID-19 pandemic relies heavily on behavioral mitigation strategies such as physical distancing, hand washing and mask wearing. Even with the availability of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, the extraordinary effort to distribute the vaccines must be paired with continued adherence to behavioral recommendations as well as vaccine confidence. To facilitate rapid and equitable uptake of the vaccines, there is a need for responsive, trustworthy, and evidence-informed communication about vaccination, enhanced trust in science, and engaging populations disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Efforts to address vaccine hesitancy and increase vaccine confidence will address the emerging gaps between vaccine availability and actual vaccination. Although these gaps are attributable, in part, to challenges with logistics and access, social and behavioral drivers of vaccination decision making also have a significant role in vaccination uptake. As federal, state, and local health and public health agencies coordinate vaccine dissemination, there will be a continuous need to adapt to an evolving landscape of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, new scientific information, and the spread of COVID-19- and vaccine-related misinformation. Facilitating widespread vaccination and maintaining a focus on equity requires thoughtful and compassionate approaches to reach and address the needs of those who are disproportionately affected by the pandemic such as underserved, vulnerable, and racial/ethnic minority populations. This commentary focuses on several National Institutes of Health initiatives that are supporting behavioral and social science research to address SARS-CoV-2 vaccine communication and increase the uptake of vaccination. We conclude with implications for future research.

No Populations Left Behind: Vaccine Hesitancy and Equitable Diffusion of Effective COVID-19 Vaccines.

Racial/ethnic minority communities are experiencing an undue burden from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and the availability of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized vaccines is critical for improving population health. National surveys assessing vaccination willingness and reports of vaccination administration by race/ethnicity indicate at least two areas that warrant attention: elevated vaccine hesitancy among African American and Latino adults, and the need to ensure equitable access to vaccination. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is not uniform within racial/ethnic minority populations; yet, given the disproportionate impact, understandable distrust, and widespread misinformation, there is an imperative to overcome challenges associated with vaccination willingness and uptake, as well as implementation and access. This Perspective discusses the complexity of drivers for each of these areas, which include individual, community, and structural factors. It also highlights two initiatives at the National Institutes of Health. One is focused on addressing misinformation and distrust through academic-community partnerships, and the other on community-engaged behavioral interventions to address the population-specific reasons for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, support informed decision-making, and promote equitable access among populations with health disparities. For the foreseeable future, proactive and persistent efforts around COVID-19 mitigation strategies, including vaccination, will remain of paramount importance for health equity.