Inequality matters: The Role of Economic, Social, Cultural, and Person Capital in Explaining Inequalities in the Accessibility and Usability of Digital Health Technologies

The use of digital health technologies could offer promising ways for sustainable healthopportunities . However, the accessibility and use of such technologies differs between groupsin society. Previous research indicates that differences in people ’s socioeconomic position areassociated with the degree to which they have access to and use digital health technologyInequality in socioeconomic position is often operationalized as differences in economiccapital. A more comprehensive definition of inequality that also encompasses differences insocial, cultural and person capital provides a richer understanding of the interplay betweeninequality and the accessibility and use of digital health technology . In this paper we providea thorough theoretical overview in which we explore how the accessibility and use of digitalhealth technology is expected to be affected by variations in different types of capital. Wediscuss the problems that arise when examining the predictors for the use of digital healthtechnology from a sociological perspective and how this relates to a digital divide Inconclusion, we provide a point of departure for future research that can address this complexinteraction of factors and consequently provide possible directions to mitigate the risk ofinequalities in access to and use of digital health technologies.