DIGIFALE: A digital health literacy programme for Pacific communities

The intervention is a non-randomised digital health literacy programme. Participants will participate in FIVE group sessions delivered over five weeks, with each group session lasting approximately 1.5-2 hours. Digital literacy questions will be asked at baseline and at five weeks, which includes demographics. Participants will receive a mobile phone and progress through culturally contextualised modules that build on necessary skills moving individuals from basic mobile literacy to digital health literacy. Participants will learn in a culturally aligned environment that is familiar to them. The programme will utilise a ‘train the trainer’ approach using DIGIFALE navigators to deliver the sessions. The lead researcher will facilitate a workshop with DIGIFALE navigators, provide an overview of the programme, and cover core subject areas related to the programme sessions and adult learning principles. Each cohort of DIGIFALE participants (Niue, Samoa, Tonga, Cook Island) will have DIGIFALE navigators from their ethnic specific background to enable sessions to be delivered in their first Pacific language. The study researcher and a community engagement coordinator will work alongside the DIGIFALE navigators as they lead and deliver the sessions within their cohort. The mode of delivery is group sessions of no more than 15 people, delivered face-to-face in an environment that is familiar to participants such as a church setting or community hall. The trained DIGIFALE navigators (n=10) will work closely with participants during each session. The DigiFale modules which provide the digital skills, are designed so that each session builds on the previous one. Each training session will start with what is relevant for individuals, consisting of four main types of activities: 1) Explanation: Short explanations to introduce benefits of a service; 2) Activity: Practical exercises on phones; 3) Discussion: To encourage elderly participants to consider the relevance in their lives; and 4) Recap: To reinforce lessons of each module. An outline of the sessions is provided below: - Session One - Introduction to DIGIFALE & navigating your phone: This session is designed to introduce participants to DIGIFALE and for participants to become familiar with their phone and phone icons. Participants will learn about gestures and how to make phone calls, send text messages, find phone characters, take photos and videos. - Session Two – Navigating online: This session introduces participants to Gmail; Google; YouTube; and importantly, digital wellbeing and online safety. - Session Three – Connecting online: This session introduces participants to sending and receiving emails; zoom; online Government services (my Inland Revenue) and QR scanning (includes COVID-19 app). - Session Four – Connecting with health services online: This session introduces participants to patient portals, using Google to search for online health websites (e.g Ministry of Health), digital wellbeing and online safety. - Session Five – Reconnecting & digital wellbeing: This session provides participants an opportunity to reflect on their learning to date and to build on knowledge they have acquired during the previous sessions. To monitor adherence to the intervention, session attendance will be recorded by DIGIFALE navigators at every session.