Sources of health information among Chinese immigrants to the Pacific Northwest

Background. Chinese immigrants to North America experience cancer-related health disparities and underutilize preventive care. Little is known about Chinese immigrants' sources of health information. Methods. A population-based survey of Chinese immigrants was conducted in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and Seattle, Washington. Results. The study group included 899 individuals. Less than three fourths of the respondents reported receiving health information from health care providers, and only a minority used the Internet as a source of health information. We found significant differences between the sources of health information in Seattle and Vancouver. Conclusions. Health educators should consider available media outlets as well as the characteristics of a target community when planning intervention programs for Chinese immigrants.

[1]  L. Meredith,et al.  Variation and Quality of Self‐Report Health Data , 1995, Medical care.

[2]  A S O'Malley,et al.  Are we getting the message out to all? Health information sources and ethnicity. , 1999, American journal of preventive medicine.

[3]  D. Wild,et al.  Principles of Good Practice for the Translation and Cultural Adaptation Process for Patient-Reported Outcomes (PRO) Measures: report of the ISPOR Task Force for Translation and Cultural Adaptation. , 2005, Value in health : the journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research.

[4]  Y. Yasui,et al.  Hepatitis B knowledge and practices among Chinese immigrants to the United States. , 2006, Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention : APJCP.

[5]  Gary L. Kreps,et al.  Trust and sources of health information: the impact of the Internet and its implications for health care providers: findings from the first Health Information National Trends Survey. , 2005, Archives of internal medicine.

[6]  G. Maskarinec,et al.  Ethnic differences in choices of health information by cancer patients using complementary and alternative medicine: an exploratory study with correspondence analysis. , 2003, Social science & medicine.

[7]  H. Hemming,et al.  Building knowledge in literacy and health. , 2006, Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique.

[8]  D. Makuc,et al.  Health, United States, 2003; with chartbook on trends in the health of Americans , 2003 .

[9]  S. Schwartz,et al.  Cervical cancer screening among Chinese Americans. , 2002, Cancer detection and prevention.

[10]  Bernard R. Rosner,et al.  Fundamentals of Biostatistics. , 1992 .

[11]  Diane S. Lauderdale,et al.  Asian American ethnic identification by surname , 2000 .

[12]  R. Winn,et al.  Information sources and barriers to cancer treatment by racial/ethnic minority status of patients. , 1998, Journal of cancer education : the official journal of the American Association for Cancer Education.

[13]  Judy Taylor,et al.  Sociodemographic differences in exposure to health information. , 2002, Ethnicity & disease.

[14]  E. Chang,et al.  The burden of liver cancer in Asians and Pacific Islanders in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, 1990 through 2004 , 2007, Cancer.

[15]  M. Doty,et al.  DIVERSE COMMUNITIES, COMMON CONCERNS: ASSESSING HEALTH CARE QUALITY FOR MINORITY AMERICANS FINDINGS FROM THE COMMONWEALTH FUND 2001 HEALTH CARE QUALITY SURVEY , 2002 .

[16]  K. Glanz,et al.  Health behavior and health education : theory, research, and practice , 1991 .

[17]  David A. Kindig,et al.  COMMITTEE ON HEALTH LITERACY , 2004 .

[18]  S. Schwartz,et al.  Facilitators and Barriers to Cervical Cancer Screening Among Chinese Canadian Women , 2003 .

[19]  David A. Kindig,et al.  The Extent and Associations of Limited Health Literacy , 2004 .

[20]  Y. Yasui,et al.  Hepatitis B Knowledge, Testing and Vaccination Levels in Chinese Immigrants to British Columbia, Canada , 2007 .

[21]  N. Pourat,et al.  Asian American and Pacific Islander breast and cervical carcinoma screening rates and Healthy People 2000 objectives , 2000, Cancer.

[22]  Helen I. Meissner ScM,et al.  How sources of health information relate to knowledge and use of cancer screening exams , 2005, Journal of Community Health.

[23]  Yutaka Yasui,et al.  Sources of Health Information Among Vietnamese American Men , 2006, Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health.

[24]  N. Powe,et al.  The association between women's health information use and health care visits. , 2005, Women's health issues : official publication of the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health.

[25]  David W. Hosmer,et al.  Applied Logistic Regression , 1991 .

[26]  Ha T Tu,et al.  Seeking health care information: most consumers still on the sidelines. , 2003, Issue brief.

[27]  E. Chang,et al.  Hepatitis B and liver cancer knowledge and preventive practices among Asian Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. , 2007, Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention : APJCP.

[28]  S. Yusuf,et al.  Cardiovascular and cancer mortality among Canadians of European, south Asian and Chinese origin from 1979 to 1993: an analysis of 1.2 million deaths. , 1999, CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne.

[29]  J. Purkiss,et al.  Cervical cancer screening knowledge and practices among Korean-American women. , 1999, Cancer nursing.