TY - JOUR
T1 - Telehealth access inequality for African Americans in rural areas
T2 - Interventions from an interprofessional education perspective
AU - Adedoyin, A. Christson
AU - Wynn, Stephanie
AU - Adunlin, Georges
AU - Adegboyega, Adebola
AU - Holly, Hannock
AU - Makanjuola, Deborah I.
AU - Adedoyin, Oreoluwa O.
AU - Bolaji, Olayinka
AU - Olawoyin, Elizabeth
AU - Makanjuola, Oluwafemi E.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2025
Y1 - 2025
N2 - Telehealth holds untapped possibilities for the healthcare access and care for African Americans in rural areas, but there are significant barriers to its use in this population. Practical and tangible barriers include lack of access to broadband internet, digital illiteracy, and health insurance. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed hitherto unknown barriers, as many rural African Americans have lost their jobs and their health insurance. This paper reviewed the literature on telehealth and access inequality for African Americans in rural areas and discussed the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic and solutions through an interprofessional education (IPE) collaboration between nurses and social workers. The paper also proposed novel IPE interventions to address the barriers to telehealth use in this population.
AB - Telehealth holds untapped possibilities for the healthcare access and care for African Americans in rural areas, but there are significant barriers to its use in this population. Practical and tangible barriers include lack of access to broadband internet, digital illiteracy, and health insurance. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed hitherto unknown barriers, as many rural African Americans have lost their jobs and their health insurance. This paper reviewed the literature on telehealth and access inequality for African Americans in rural areas and discussed the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic and solutions through an interprofessional education (IPE) collaboration between nurses and social workers. The paper also proposed novel IPE interventions to address the barriers to telehealth use in this population.
KW - health disparities
KW - interprofessional education
KW - rural areas
KW - Telehealth
KW - telemedicine
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=86000256722&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=86000256722&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/10911359.2025.2470901
DO - 10.1080/10911359.2025.2470901
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:86000256722
SN - 1091-1359
JO - Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment
JF - Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment
ER -