Nativity and language preference as drivers of health information seeking: examining differences and trends from a U.S. population-based survey

Abstract

Objective To examine differences in health information seeking between U.S.-born and foreign-born populations in the U.S. Design Data from 2008 to 2014 from the Health Information National Trends Survey were used in this study (n = 15,249). Bivariate analyses, logistic regression, and predicted probabilities were used to examine health information seeking and sources of health information. Results Findings demonstrate that 59.3% of the Hispanic foreign-born population reported looking for health information, fewer than other racial/ethnic groups in the sample. Compared with non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black (OR = 0.62) and Hispanic foreign-born individuals (OR = 0.31) were the least likely to use the internet as a first source for health information. Adjustment for language preference explains much of the disparity in health information seeking between the Hispanic foreign-born population and Whites; controlling for nativity, respondents who prefer Spanish have 0.25 the odds of using the internet as a first source of health information compared to those who prefer English. Conclusion Foreign-born nativity and language preference are significant determinants of health information seeking. Further research is needed to better understand how information seeking patterns can influence health care use, and ultimately health outcomes. To best serve diverse racial and ethnic minority populations, health care systems, health care providers, and public health professionals must provide culturally competent health information resources to strengthen access and use by vulnerable populations, and to ensure that all populations are able to benefit from evolving health information sources in the digital age.

Heterogeneity in Trust of Cancer Information among Hispanic Adults in the United States: An Analysis of the Health Information National Trends Survey

“…Despite moderate levels of trust in cancer-related information from government health agencies, Hispanics who have been in the United States for less than 10 years were significantly more likely to trust in cancer information received from government health agencies than Hispanics who have been in the U.S. longer than 10 years. This may reflect a lack of other available and trustworthy sources of information available to those who recently immigrated to the United States (17). Our findings may also reflect cohort differences in trust of government agencies among recent Hispanic immigrants compared with Hispanics that immigrated in earlier decades or differences in circumstances before immigrating or the political and social climate of the United States upon arrival (42)(43)(44).…”

“…Recent evidence suggests that Hispanics are more likely to depend completely on smartphones for any Internet access compared with non-Hispanic whites (22% vs. 12%), and that they are twice as likely to cut off service to those smartphones because of expense (13). Hispanics also exhibit lower health informationseeking through the Internet than do non-Hispanic whites, and when information is sought, the experience is frequently perceived as more effortful and more frustrating than it is for their non-Spanish speaking counterparts (14)(15)(16)(17)(18). These experiences often lead to varying degrees of confidence and trust in the information and the source of the related information (19,20).…”

Prevalence of selected birth defects by maternal nativity status, United States, 1999–2007

“…Assimilation and acculturation cannot be directly measured with available vital statistics data, yet these socio-cultural factors may influence the prevalence of birth defects among immigrant women, leading potentially to significantly lower or in some cases higher prevalence of specific birth defects. Previous studies have also illustrated the disparities in access to care, among foreign-born or non-US citizens compared to US-born women (Derose et al, 2007;El-Sayed and Galea, 2012;Goldfarb et al, 2017;Korinek and Smith, 2011;Massey et al, 2017). Evidence suggests that these factors should also be explored in the context of birth defects outcomes.…”

Health Information-Seeking Behaviors of a German Speaking Minority in Italy: Latent Class Analysis of a Population-Based Cross-Sectional Survey

“…Although understanding health literacy in different populations is a growing area of research, little is known about ethnolinguistic aspects of health information-seeking behavior [1][2][3]. The social, cultural and linguistic context is an important co-determinant of health literacy and health information-seeking behaviour because it is critical for participation and empowerment [4][5][6]. Health literacy refers to an individual's "knowledge, motivation, and competences to access, understand, appraise and apply information to make decisions in terms of health care, disease prevention and health promotion" [7].…”