| Title: |
Bridging the divide in digital therapeutics (DTx): Partnership strategies for broader representation across DTx development and deployment |
| Authors: |
Kim, Meelim; De La Torre, Steven; Mitchell, Uchechi; Melendrez, Blanca; Cole-Lewis, Heather; Lewis, Dana; Akom, Antwi; Cruz, Tessa; Spring, Bonnie; Hekler, Eric |
| Contributors: |
Kisimbi, Thomas Kyumwa; National Cancer Institute; Google.org; Office of Minority Health; American Heart Association; National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; National Institute of Health |
| Source: |
PLOS Digital Health ; volume 5, issue 2, page e0001241 ; ISSN 2767-3170 |
| Publisher Information: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| Publication Year: |
2026 |
| Collection: |
PLOS Publications (via CrossRef) |
| Description: |
While Digital Therapeutics (DTx) are widely considered a key strategy to reach certain populations with unmet healthcare needs, a range of differences in the impact and adoption of DTx still exists. These differences are not just rooted in access, but also in gaps in knowledge about how to produce community-relevant DTx, primarily stemming from the implicit or explicit exclusion of those with both relevant trained expertise (gained through formal education or professional experience) and lived expertise (gained through personal and direct experience). This paper expands the traditional conceptualization of the digital divide beyond access to encompass four interconnected domains: the Digital Knowledge Divide, Digital Evidence Generation Divide, Digital Production Divide, and Digital Adoption Divide. Drawing on Ridgeway’s cultural schema theory of status, we demonstrate how conventional team hierarchies in DTx development systematically allocate status and decision-making authority through automatic cultural defaults, credentials, professional roles, demographic characteristics, rather than through contextual assessment of who possesses the most relevant expertise for specific decisions. To address this challenge, we propose a theoretical framework for dynamic expertise integration that deliberately disrupts rapid-stabilizing hierarchies by creating explicit relational spaces where teams can recognize and value both lived and trained expertise contextually. We operationalize this framework through the DTx Team Building Worksheet, a practical tool that integrates team science approaches with Community-Led Transformation principles and Culturally and Community Responsive Design. The Worksheet provides structured processes for assessing diverse forms of expertise, defining roles dynamically, and identifying decision-making priorities that shift appropriately across the DTx lifecycle. This integrated approach including problem analysis, theoretical framework, and practical tool, offers a pathway toward more equitable ... |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| Language: |
English |
| DOI: |
10.1371/journal.pdig.0001241 |
| Availability: |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pdig.0001241; https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pdig.0001241 |
| Rights: |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.540E506 |
| Database: |
BASE |