Improving Health Promotion to American Indians in the Midwest United States: Preferred Sources of Health Information and Its Use for the Medical Encounter

View/ Open
Issue Date
2012-12Author
Geana, Mugur V.
Greiner, K. Allen
Cully, Angelia
Talawyma, Myrietta
Daley, Christine Makosky
Publisher
Springer Verlag
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, author accepted manuscript
Rights
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
American Indians and Alaska Natives suffer significant health disparities for many infectious and chronic diseases as compared to the general population. Providing accurate and culturally tailored health information to underserved groups has been shown to influence health behaviors and health outcomes. Little prior research has explored American Indians health information use and preferences. National representative sample surveys such as the Health Information National Trends Survey provide some data on minority groups but are underpowered to provide useful information on American Indians. The present study analyzes data from a survey of over 900 American Indians from the Midwest United States and explores their sources of health information, their preferences for information presentation, and their use of health information prior to and during medical encounters. We conclude that campaigns targeting Natives should be narrowly focused and be community driven or employing community resources. American Indians use a diversity of media sources to obtain health information, with the Internet being underutilized compared to the general population. Partnership with Indian Health Service providers and pharmacists, as well as traditional healers, in the development and dissemination of new health information for Natives may provide the “expert” tone needed to promote health improvements in American Indians.
Collections
Citation
Geana, M. V., Greiner, K. A., Cully, A., Talawyma, M., & Daley, C. M. (2012). Improving Health Promotion to American Indians in the Midwest United States: Preferred Sources of Health Information and Its Use for the Medical Encounter. Journal of Community Health, 37(6), 1253–1263. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-012-9564-x
Items in KU ScholarWorks are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.
We want to hear from you! Please share your stories about how Open Access to this item benefits YOU.