Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27206459›Full record

ArticleJournal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA2016

Beyond access: barriers to internet health information seeking among the urban poor.

Rachel F McCloud, Cassandra A Okechukwu, Glorian Sorensen, K Viswanath

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 71 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
71citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
21.1field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

71 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 148 citations in OpenAlex.

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  16. Drive time to care and retention in HIV care: Rural-urban differences among Medicaid enrollees in the United States South.The Journal of rural health : official journal of the American Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Care Association · 2025
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11 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Rachel F McCloudCenter for Community-Based Research, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA Rachel_Faulkenberry@dfci.harvard.edu.
Cassandra A OkechukwuDepartment of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Glorian SorensenCenter for Community-Based Research, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA.
K ViswanathCenter for Community-Based Research, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute · USHarvard University · US

Funding

Harvard Education Program in Cancer Prevention Control (R25T)R25CA057711 · NCI · HARVARD UNIVERSITY (SCH OF PUBLIC HLTH) · PI DAVISON, KIRSTEN · 1992 to 2018
$8.5M
Click to Connect: Improving Health Literacy through Internet LiteracyR01CA122894 · NCI · DANA-FARBER CANCER INST · PI VISWANATH, KASISOMAYAJULA · 2006 to 2010
$2.6M
NCI NIH HHS R01 CA122894NCI NIH HHS R25 CA057711
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveCommunication inequalities deepen health disparities even when internet access is achieved. The goal of this study is to understand how a range of barriers may inhibit individuals from low socioeconomic position (SEP) from engaging with online health information even when it is freely available. MATERIALS AND

methodsDetailed data were collected from 118 low-SEP individuals from a randomized controlled trial providing internet access. Measures triangulated the health-seeking experience through internet use tracked in real-time, call log data, and self-reported barriers. Negative binomial regression models were fitted with technology and perceived predictors, and our outcome, health information seeking, and then stratified by medical status.

resultsParticipants experienced a median of two computer issues (median 6 days) and two internet issues (median 6.5 days). Duration of internet problems was associated with a decrease in the rate of internet health information seeking by a factor of 0.990 (P = .03) for each additional day. Participants with a medical problem who were frustrated in their search for health information had half the rate of health information seeking of those who were not frustrated (incidence rate ratio = 0.395, P = .030). DISCUSSION: Despite IT support, participants still experienced internet connectivity issues that negatively impacted their health information seeking. Frustration in their search to find information may serve as an additional barrier to those who have medical issues.

conclusionAfter initial internet access, a second-level digital divide emerged due to connectivity issues, highlighting the need to understand the complex network of barriers experienced by low-SEP internet users.

Indexed as

Consumer Health InformationDigital DivideInformation Seeking BehaviorInternetAdultFemaleHealthcare DisparitiesHumansMaleMiddle AgedPovertyUrban PopulationVulnerable Populationscommunication barriershealthcare disparitiesinformation seeking behaviorinternetvulnerable populations

Identifiers

PMID27206459
PMCPMC5070515
OpenAlexW2396623070

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.