Agricultural Workers Digital Equity Initiative

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Abstract Agricultural workers are essential to the US economy and its food systems yet experience a “digital divide” that limits access to health services, including telehealth, and results in poor health outcomes. The purpose of the proposed Agricultural Workers Digital Equity Initiative (AWDEI) is to transform agricultural workers’ access to affordable, reliable high-speed broadband internet to enhance telehealth models and reduce health inequities. The proposed AWDEI will engage community-based partners across North Carolina (NC) that serve agricultural workers and their families. The project team will use intervention mapping in combination with input from the NC Agriculture Digital Alliance and its Health Equity Research Assembly workgroup. The NC Farmworker Health Program maintains an existing data system for tracking health outcomes among agricultural worker patients, and it will leverage a partnership with its research team to implement a longitudinal, repeated cross-sectional survey of agricultural workers to assess changes in internet access over the course of the project. The outcome of this project will improve internet connectivity for agricultural workers and their families. This will allow for better utilization of comprehensive health care delivery systems and contribute to improved management of chronic medical conditions including mental health. This project will also leverage opportunities for improvement of electronic health record system communication among community health sites.