{"639092":{"#nid":"639092","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Receives Google Grant to Study Impact of Pandemic Information Seeking on Vulnerable Populations","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/gatech.edu\u0022\u003EGeorgia Tech\u003C\/a\u003E will receive $155,000 from \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ai.google\/social-good\/\u0022\u003EGoogle\u0026rsquo;s Covid-19 AI for Social Good\u003C\/a\u003E program to investigate patterns and impact of pandemic information-seeking amongst vulnerable populations, such as older adults, low-income households, and Black and Hispanic adults. These populations have experienced disproportionately high rates of Covid-19-related death, severe sickness, and life disruptions like job loss.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFactors like higher rates of underlying health problems, reduced access to health care, and structural inequities shape access to critical resources. These same populations, however, also often have less access to the types of online information designed to improve health outcomes.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis project, led by principal investigator \u003Cstrong\u003EAndrea Grimes Parker\u003C\/strong\u003E, an associate professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/ic.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESchool of Interactive Computing\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and member of the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/ipat.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EInstitute for People and Technology\u003C\/a\u003E, will investigate how vulnerable and marginalized populations use technology for information seeking during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the impact of information exposure on their psychological wellbeing over time.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The Covid-19 pandemic has brought further attention to systemic disparities in health that have long existed in the United States,\u0026rdquo; Parker said. \u0026ldquo;Within a public health crisis, the information that people are exposed to has huge implications for how attitudes around the pandemic are shaped, how people respond, and thus the course of the pandemic.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Our work will provide both qualitative and quantitative evidence of the particular ways in which Covid-19 information exposure is tied to outcomes such as mental health in those most vulnerable to Covid-19 mortality and morbidity.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EResearchers will examine this information exposure over time. Their\u0026nbsp;findings will help to shape recommendations for crisis information communication, particularly online, in the future. This work builds upon existing work by Parker and collaborators at Northeastern University.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EParker and colleagues Professors \u003Cstrong\u003EMiso Kim\u003C\/strong\u003E and Dr. \u003Cstrong\u003EJacqueline Griffin\u003C\/strong\u003E began their collaboration investigation how well crisis apps \u0026ndash; mobile apps designed to provide help during emergency situations \u0026ndash; support older adults. This work was published at the 2020 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen the pandemic began, they expanded their focus to additional groups of vulnerable to poor health, such as low-income and racial and ethnic minority populations. The team, in collaboration with Professor \u003Cstrong\u003EStacy Marsella\u003C\/strong\u003E, also expanded their focus beyond crisis apps, designing a survey to investigate information seeking practices in vulnerable populations amidst the pandemic.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis survey has been distributed to over 600 individuals in Massachusetts and Georgia to date. Parker\u0026rsquo;s new Google funding will enable the team to iterate on and expand the dissemination of this survey, conduct longitudinal analyses, and compliment the quantitative analysis with a qualitative component that will help unpack the nuances behind information-seeking practices and resulting Covid-19 attitudes, behaviors, and mental health outcomes.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis funding is part of Google.org\u0026rsquo;s $100 million commitment to Covid-19 relief efforts.\u0026nbsp;Organizations receiving funds were selected through a competitive review. Funding focus areas include health equity, disease spread monitoring and forecasting, frontline health worker support, secondary public health effects, and privacy-preserving contact tracing efforts.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Populations including older adults, low-income households, and Black and Hispanic adults have disproportionately high fatality rates, as well as less access to critical pandemic information."}],"uid":"33939","created_gmt":"2020-09-14 19:46:37","changed_gmt":"2020-09-14 19:46:37","author":"David Mitchell","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2020-09-14T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2020-09-14T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"639090":{"id":"639090","type":"image","title":"Covid-19 Google Grant","body":null,"created":"1600112099","gmt_created":"2020-09-14 19:34:59","changed":"1600112099","gmt_changed":"2020-09-14 19:34:59","alt":"Two women wearing masks during Covid-19 pandemic","file":{"fid":"242990","name":"coronavirus-4981906_1920.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/coronavirus-4981906_1920.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/coronavirus-4981906_1920.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":134084,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/coronavirus-4981906_1920.jpg?itok=MxHHv61G"}}},"media_ids":["639090"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"1299","name":"GVU Center"},{"id":"576481","name":"ML@GT"},{"id":"431631","name":"OMS"},{"id":"50876","name":"School of Interactive Computing"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"184821","name":"cc-research; ic-hcc; ic-ai-ml; COVID-19"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EDavid Mitchell\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECommunications Officer\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:david.mitchell@cc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Edavid.mitchell@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}