Ethical perspectives in sharing digital data for public health surveillance before and shortly after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic

Data from digital technologies are increasingly integrated in public health research. In April of 2020, we interviewed a subset of participants (N = 25) who completed a survey approximately one month earlier (just prior to the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States). Using the sur...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ethics & behavior 2022, Vol.32 (1), p.22-31
Main Authors: Romero, Romina A., Young, Sean D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Confidentiality
Contact tracing
Content analysis
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Data privacy
digital tools
Ethics
Health surveillance
Interviews
Medical research
Pandemics
Personal information
Polls & surveys
Privacy
Public health
social media
Surveillance
Willingness
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Summary:Data from digital technologies are increasingly integrated in public health research. In April of 2020, we interviewed a subset of participants (N = 25) who completed a survey approximately one month earlier (just prior to the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States). Using the survey, we contacted and interviewed participants who had expressed their willingness or unwillingness to share digital data (e.g., from contact tracing apps) for use in public health. We followed a directed content analysis approach for the analysis of the interview data. Among participants who had reported being unwilling to share data, concerns about privacy, confidentiality, and the purpose of the research were cited. During the interviews, 76.9% of the participants who had who had previously indicated that they were unwilling to share their data, expressed willingness to share data in order to assist with COVID-19 prevention. Our results contribute to our understanding of people's perspectives on sharing personal data and of the way their perspectives can vary as a function of potential uses of their personal information (e.g., prevention of COVID-19).
ISSN:1050-8422
1532-7019
DOI:10.1080/10508422.2021.1884079