Preferences Among Immigrant Hispanic Women for Written Educational Materials Regarding Upper Respiratory Infections

Abstract

The need for culturally appropriate health education materials for Hispanic populations has been widely recognized, and Spanish-language materials are available through a number of private and governmental organizations. We convened two focus groups to elucidate preferences regarding how health-related messages are obtained and to identify which educational materials available in Spanish were preferred by 26 recently immigrated Hispanic homemakers who had received 15 different bimonthly written documents as part of a community-based clinical trial to prevent household transmission of colds and influenza. Participants gave three primary reasons for volunteering to participate in the study: to provide better care for their children (96.2%, 25/26), to get information (96.2%, 25/26), and to get free products (47.1%, 8/17). Their primary sources of health-related information were relatives and friends (42.9%, 6/14), clinicians (35.7%, 5/14), mass media (14.3%, 2/14) or the emergency room (7.1%, 1/14); none mentioned the internet. Materials using either a question and answer or true/false format were clearly preferred, even when other options were more colorful or had lower reading levels. Printed educational materials may be ineffective unless they include a more systematic assessment of the user's perceived needs for the information as well as consideration of format. In this population, a question and answer or true/false format and materials that could be shared with their children were greatly preferred.

Stroke and Heart Disease Prevention Education via Telenovela: A Focus Group's Evaluation

“…The group did like the telenovela content and felt that the video would be a good tool, not only for the clinic, but at health fairs and in school programs. The participants also stated that additional telenovelas or fotonovelas (story in print with pictures and captions) would be helpful in promoting other positive health behaviors, such as exercise and managing specific diseases, such as diabetes or asthma, which was consistent with the literature (Balcazar et al., ; Larson et al., ; Mier et al., ; Wilkin et al., ). Two areas for improvement according to the participants were to add more information about other healthy behaviors such as exercise, taking medications, etc., into the current storyline to enhance the content and to incorporate the use of community leaders or promotoras (LHA) to disseminate the information.…”

“…There is a myriad of health related education materials available in Spanish (in print and online). Materials developed by healthcare professionals often reflect what they perceive as important points and the element of cultural context is often missing (Larson, Wong‐McLoughlin, & Ferng, ). It was found that clear purposeful messaging was important, however, a preference for the delivery of information from family, friends, and neighbors was also cited as even more influential than print media.…”

Effectiveness of intensive healthcare waste management training model among health professionals at teaching hospitals of Pakistan: a quasi-experimental study

“…The possible reason is evident: no training no practicum and no reminder service. Literature proved that the practical demonstration has positively influence the practices of an individual and their behavior at their work place [ 24 ]. Face to face trainings has been proven to be one of more effective strategies for improving the practices and health behavior, especially when combined with other training interventional approaches [ 25 ].…”

Addressing Health Disparities Through Patient Education: The Development of Culturally-Tailored Health Education Materials at Puentes de Salud

“…These interviews were also conducted during clinic hours, primarily when the patient was in the exam room to maintain privacy. We hypothesized that most patients had little or no experience with written health information based on previous reports in the literature describing similar populations (Larson, Wong-McLoughlin, & Ferng, 2009). The next step in developing our health information intervention included identifying appropriate topics based on two criteria: (a) content frequently covered in similar materials developed by federal agencies and nonprofit foundations for a more general Latino audience and (b) commonly seen diagnoses at the local clinic that serves the target audience.…”