The digital rainbow: Digital determinants of health inequities
The widely used socioecological rainbow model from Dahlgren and Whitehead specifies determinants of health inequity on multiple hierarchical levels and suggests that these determinants may interact both within and between levels. At the time of its inception, digital determinants only played a minor...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SAGE Publishing
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Digital Health |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076221129093 |
| _version_ | 1811242839417290752 |
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| author | Tina Jahnel Hans-Henrik Dassow Ansgar Gerhardus Benjamin Schüz |
| author_facet | Tina Jahnel Hans-Henrik Dassow Ansgar Gerhardus Benjamin Schüz |
| author_sort | Tina Jahnel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The widely used socioecological rainbow model from Dahlgren and Whitehead specifies determinants of health inequity on multiple hierarchical levels and suggests that these determinants may interact both within and between levels. At the time of its inception, digital determinants only played a minor role in tackling inequities in public health and were therefore not specifically considered. This has dramatically changed: From today's perspective, health inequities increasingly depend on digital determinants. In this article, we suggest adapting the Dahlgren-Whitehead model to reflect these developments. We propose a model that allows formulating testable hypotheses, interpreting research findings, and developing policy implications against the background of the global spread of digital technologies. This may facilitate the development of a new line of research and logic models for public health interventions in the digital age. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study, we illustrate how the digitization of all aspects of life affects the different levels of determinants of health inequities in the Dahlgren–Whitehead model. In doing so, we deliberately argue for not introducing a separate digital sphere in its own right, but for understanding digitization as a phenomenon that permeates all levels of determinants of health inequities. As a result, we present a digital rainbow model that integrates Dahlgren and Whitehead's 1991 model with digital environments to identify current health promotion and research issues without changing the rainbow model's initial structure. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T13:57:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-75b7366d985b4f9f967e60862a1d5fed |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2055-2076 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T13:57:55Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Digital Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-75b7366d985b4f9f967e60862a1d5fed2022-12-22T03:30:19ZengSAGE PublishingDigital Health2055-20762022-10-01810.1177/20552076221129093The digital rainbow: Digital determinants of health inequitiesTina Jahnel0Hans-Henrik Dassow1Ansgar Gerhardus2Benjamin Schüz3 Leibniz ScienceCampus Digital Public Health Bremen, Bremen, Germany Institute for Philosophy, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany Leibniz ScienceCampus Digital Public Health Bremen, Bremen, Germany Institute for Public Health and Nursing Research, Prevention and Health Promotion, University of Bremen, Bremen, GermanyThe widely used socioecological rainbow model from Dahlgren and Whitehead specifies determinants of health inequity on multiple hierarchical levels and suggests that these determinants may interact both within and between levels. At the time of its inception, digital determinants only played a minor role in tackling inequities in public health and were therefore not specifically considered. This has dramatically changed: From today's perspective, health inequities increasingly depend on digital determinants. In this article, we suggest adapting the Dahlgren-Whitehead model to reflect these developments. We propose a model that allows formulating testable hypotheses, interpreting research findings, and developing policy implications against the background of the global spread of digital technologies. This may facilitate the development of a new line of research and logic models for public health interventions in the digital age. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study, we illustrate how the digitization of all aspects of life affects the different levels of determinants of health inequities in the Dahlgren–Whitehead model. In doing so, we deliberately argue for not introducing a separate digital sphere in its own right, but for understanding digitization as a phenomenon that permeates all levels of determinants of health inequities. As a result, we present a digital rainbow model that integrates Dahlgren and Whitehead's 1991 model with digital environments to identify current health promotion and research issues without changing the rainbow model's initial structure.https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076221129093 |
| spellingShingle | Tina Jahnel Hans-Henrik Dassow Ansgar Gerhardus Benjamin Schüz The digital rainbow: Digital determinants of health inequities Digital Health |
| title | The digital rainbow: Digital determinants of health inequities |
| title_full | The digital rainbow: Digital determinants of health inequities |
| title_fullStr | The digital rainbow: Digital determinants of health inequities |
| title_full_unstemmed | The digital rainbow: Digital determinants of health inequities |
| title_short | The digital rainbow: Digital determinants of health inequities |
| title_sort | digital rainbow digital determinants of health inequities |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076221129093 |
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