Support from someone you know, in a way that adds value to your life, hobbies or interests, is effective in building skills and confidence. Practice has identified that embedding this element of digital inclusion in an activity that someone already participates in is much more successful than targeting people to attend a new service or organisation.
In digital inclusion we use 'essential digital skills' to understand the core skills needed to navigate the internet.
Let's explore each of these 5 skills in relation to digital health and social care:
Communicating
Communicating is the skill that allows us to stay connected with other people using technology. It’s about our ability to express, share and talk with friends, family and a global community through social networking. Communicating is a fundamental skill in a world where we keep in touch virtually. We use this skill to share our experiences, and build communities with other people across the world.
In health and social care, communicating is important for:
Using digital consultation tools like NearMe.
Keeping in touch with communities of support or carers.
Handling information and content
Handling information and content is all about how we use the internet to access information, entertainment and store things that are important to us. Our lives are largely online, now. The photo albums of the past have been replaced with Cloud storage. Knowing how to access this and being able to keep ourselves informed and entertained are crucial for most of us. Can you picture a Tuesday night in the pandemic without Netflix?
This skill is used in health and social care to:
Find information about our health from reliable sources that we can trust, like NHS Inform.
Store important information like appointments on calendars.
Transacting
Transacting online is about more than just using money online – it’s also about how we access important services and keep ourselves financially competent and confident online.
Transacting in the health and social care context could look like:
Being able to fill in forms and interact with online services, like making appointments or ordering repeat prescriptions online.
Receiving appointment notifications and reminders by text or email.
Problem solving
Problem solving is how we use the internet to solve a range of real-life problems. We need problem solving skills in order to be able to use the internet to its full advantage.
Within health and social care, this could be:
Using platforms like ALISS to find local services and support networks.
Setting medication reminders or finding apps that can help people to self-manage health conditions.
Being safe, legal and confident online
Staying safe, legal and confident online is the big one. It underpins everything we do online – we need to navigate the web with confidence, so that we can stay safe and legal. It can also be the hardest skill to impart to people who are new to the online world, because it can often feel scary and overwhelming. We all have a lot we could do to improve our approach to online safety. Sometimes the best way to look at your online safety is the same way you’d look at your household safety. Locked doors and windows are like passwords – they keep intruders out. We also wouldn’t express hurtful or prejudicial opinions in the town square, so why on social media? Contextualising digital skills is a great way to help people learn.
This is an important skill to develop in health and social care for:
Overcoming fears for people that aren’t sure about technology or who are worried about scams when interacting online.
Making sure people feel empowered and in control of their health.
Illustration credit: Tessa Mackenzie
You can take an online assessment of your own essential digital skills, or use it as a tool to understand the digital skills for someone you're supporting.
Foundation Skills- Check if your users can do simple tasks like connecting to WiFi
Essential Skills - Check if your users have all the skills they need to be part of the digital world
Did you know that there's a national digital skills support helpline in Scotland? The Connecting Scotland Helpline is run by People Know How.
