Abstract:

The digital divide amongst African American families and youth has been significantly documented in the recent research literature. The impact of that phenomenon has been exacerbated during the COVID – 19 pandemic. Perhaps, one of the most significant impacts of the COVID – 19 pandemic on African American families has been the changes in the education of their children. Like most public functions in local, state, regional, and national affairs, public education in local school districts throughout the nation transitioned to various models of remote/online education. Those transitions from face-to-face and on-site instruction to remote/online presented major challenges to the African American families. Further, those circumstances created even more challenges for low-income African American families, particularly those residing in underserved communities. Considering the core medical status of the COVID – 19 pandemic’s impact on people everywhere, medical information systems are a major component of the decision chain regarding the education of children and youth. In addition, the uneven and too often broken chain of information seriously impacts decision-making efforts among school administrators. Another important element that is seriously impacting low-income African American families and youth is food insecurity. Many low-income African American families heavily depend on the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) to minimize food insecurity. NSLP provides school-based breakfast, lunch, and evening snacks for many low-income African American families and youth. Also, the distribution of tests and now vaccines have been seriously adversely impacted low-income African American families and youth. Medical information systems are major components that either help mitigate or exacerbate problems among low-income African American families and youth.

Consequently, the primary research questions that undergird this research study are:
1.) To what extent has the health status of low-income African American families and youth been adversely impacted by existing medical information systems?
2.) To what extent has the health status of low-income African American families and youth been adversely impacted by issues of food insecurity,?
3.) To what extent has the digital divide adversely impacted the accessibility of medical information systems among low-income African American families and youth,? and
4.) To what extent is the digital divide adversely associated with food insecurity, health status, medical information systems accessibility, and education accessibility among low-income African American families and youth.

A quantitative research design was developed to analyze samples of collected data for this study. Secondary samples of data were generated from the Household Pulse Survey published by the United States Center for Disease Control (CDC) in collaboration with the United States Census Bureau. Findings indicate that all core variables analyzed in this study were significant indicators of their seriously adverse impact on low-income African American families and youth.

Keywords:

Health Information Systems, Low-Income African American Families, Food Insecurity, Digital Divide.