Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022;32(1):22-31.
doi: 10.1080/10508422.2021.1884079. Epub 2021 Mar 4.

Ethical Perspectives in Sharing Digital Data for Public Health Surveillance Before and Shortly After the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Romina A Romero  1 , Sean D Young  1
Affiliations

Ethical Perspectives in Sharing Digital Data for Public Health Surveillance Before and Shortly After the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Romina A Romero et al. Ethics Behav. 2022.

Abstract

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 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).

Keywords: COVID-19; contact tracing; data privacy; digital tools; social media.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

References

    1. Abeler J, Bäcker M, Buermeyer U, & Zillessen H.(2020). COVID-19 Contact Tracing and Data Protection Can Go Together. JMIR MHealth and UHealth, 8(4), e19359. 10.2196/19359 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Allen C, Tsou M-H, Aslam A, Nagel A, & Gawron J-M (2016). Applying GIS and Machine Learning Methods to Twitter Data for Multiscale Surveillance of Influenza. PLoS ONE, 11(7). 10.1371/journal.pone.0157734 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Assarroudi A, Heshmati Nabavi F, Armat MR, Ebadi A, & Vaismoradi M.(2018). Directed qualitative content analysis: The description and elaboration of its underpinning methods and data analysis process. Journal of Research in Nursing, 23(1), 42–55. 10.1177/1744987117741667 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Broniatowski DA, Paul MJ, & Dredze M.(2013). National and Local Influenza Surveillance through Twitter: An Analysis of the 2012–2013 Influenza Epidemic. PLOS ONE, 8(12), e83672. 10.1371/journal.pone.0083672 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chiu CJ, Menacho L, & Young SD (2016). The Association Between Age and Ethics-Related Issues in Using Social Media for HIV Prevention in Peru. Ethics & Behavior, 26(2), 99–109. 10.1080/10508422.2014.991868 - DOI - PMC - PubMed