Children’s Mercy Research Institute Hosts Mini Digital Divide Simulation Activity
Written by John Fitzpatrick and Leslie Scott
Because medical studies are often focused on people whose data got captured only because they passed through hospital or clinic doors, whole sectors of society can be missing from the research. Further, researchers have difficulty recruiting sufficient numbers of people to participate in their studies when they rely on just known patients. These factors can severely limit the applicability and, in some cases, the quality of the research.
In recognition of May as “Research Month,” Children’s Mercy Research Institute’s (CMRI) division of Health Services and Outcomes Research organized several “Lunch and Learn” sessions to highlight important topics for their researchers. The final session, on May 27, 2026, focused on the challenge of representative studies for improving both quality and reach, all through the lens of digital exclusion.
Realizing that the digital divide remains a major impediment to reaching people where they are, rather than just in clinical settings, CMRI invited KC Digital Drive (KCDD) to participate at the suggestion of one of their Community Advisory Board members, Jessica Welch. Jessica is a program manager at one of KCDD’s partner organizations, Phoenix Family, who had previously participated in a Digital Divide Simulation (DDS) that KC Digital Drive created and continues to facilitate across the country.
Children’s Mercy Community Advisory Board with Andrea Bradley-Ewing presenting their panel discussion
KCDD collaborated with Jessica and the CMRI team to provide further context for the session’s presentation on the connections between health equity and digital equity, offering a modified version of KCDD’s Digital Divide Simulation (DDS) so that the researchers could see first-hand the circumstances that touch many of their patients and even more families beyond the healthcare setting who struggle with access to technology. The DDS presents participants with a variety of “personas” that characterize circumstances that real people have in navigating what is now a digital society. Some personas reflect people who are well connected; many reflect people who are not. KCDD worked with CMRI to select personas who have children or who have other relevant lived experience, such as speaking a language other than English. They engaged young people on their own Youth Advisory Board to tailor these even more closely to real-life circumstances to better align them with those of the individuals and families Children’s Mercy serves, such as when a person ages out of pediatric care and starts living independently.
The CMRI then distributed these personas to adult members of their Community Advisory Board who were instructed to accomplish things like finding the right contacts for local schools and registering a child, finding suitable housing and applying for rent assistance, and seeking other services. These CAB members participated in a panel discussion at the Lunch and Learn session and discussed the difficulties they encountered in trying to accomplish the tasks, especially when lacking not only connectivity, a computer and the skills to use it, but also the factors that compound living on the wrong side of the digital divide, such as lacking reliable transportation.
In reflecting on the experience, Jessica said, “It was helpful for me to put my feet in someone else’s shoes through following a persona who has digital access barriers to complete the tasks requiring access. I learned that there are increased planning, costs, time, and stress required to gain access to be able to complete the tasks that I can simply complete at any time with my current access.”
Jessica Welch talking about her experience as a persona in the Simulation
Following the panel discussion, participants took questions from the 80+ attendees. “Based on the questions from the attendees, sharing this experience helped them understand what it might be like for families considering participation in research,” Jessica said.
All attendees were offered personas so they could get an idea of being digitally excluded, as well.
Andrea Bradley-Ewing shared these remarks about the experience:
“Designing and implementing effective research requires careful planning, collaboration, and execution. Central to this process is understanding the lived experiences and social realities of the patients, families, and communities we serve to ensure we design studies that are centered on their needs. The digital divide simulation provides an experiential learning process to help researchers and health care clinicians gain perspective on the barriers families with limited digital access face when seeking care as well as strategies teams can put in place to reduce these challenges.” ~ Andrea Bradley-Ewing
Impediments such as a lack of home internet, a device and digital skills, as well as other barriers, like being unhoused and lacking transportation, touch on what are often referred to as social determinants (or drivers) of health (SDoH), and also on potential deficits in research. The National Academy of Medicine estimates that clinical care makes up only 20% of a person’s health status. The rest is spread across social and economic factors (40%), health behaviors (30%), and physical environment (10%). Think again of the completeness of research if it focuses only on the 20%. The federal government cites 5 core domains of SDoH, plus 8 supplementary. The Gravity Project, a national effort related to interoperability of all health IT, recognizes 22, including digital access and digital literacy. It is not always necessary to assess every possible social need, but without engaging with real frameworks and collaboration, the picture for both care and research will remain incomplete.
John Fitzpatrick presenting about Social Drivers of Health
This is another key reason why KCDD is so engaged with community-based organizations in addition to its medical partners. These partners are the ones addressing the other 80%. In support of this, KCDD is involved with projects, locally and nationally, to bring together both clinical and social data so that providers of both medical care and social care can access the most holistic view of, and connected operations for, the people they serve.
If you’d like to learn more about our work in the Digital Health space, contact John Fitzpatrick. If you’re interested in hosting a Digital Divide Simulation, check out our website here and reach out to Leah Henriksen to schedule a call to talk more about how to bring it to your organization.