Information and Communication Technology Access and Use Among Low-Income Latino Immigrant Parents

Development of mHealth interventions to address health disparities for Latino children in immigrant families requires understanding access to and use of information and communication technology.

We examined access to information and communication technology and use of common applications/programs by low-income immigrant Latino parents of infants to inform development of mHealth interventions for this population. Latino immigrant parents reported technology use and access of common applications/software via survey.

Of the 157 participants, we found nearly all parents owned a smartphone and that 60% accessed the internet only via their smartphone. Around one-quarter of participants had access to unlimited data. Frequent use of text messaging was common, but frequent email use was less common. Less than 10% of participants frequently used health-oriented applications.

Our findings suggest that mHealth interventions that use data, email, or an application interface may not have the intended reach or effectiveness among low-income immigrant Latino parents. Consideration of these findings is important in guiding the development of future mHealth programs for the low-income Latino population. This study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02647814).