ABSTRACT
Blacks are at greater risk for lower sleep quality and higher risk for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) than other racial groups. In this study, we summarize the development of a tailored website including visuals, key messages, and video narratives, to promote awareness about sleep apnea among community-dwelling blacks. We utilized mixed methods, including in-depth interviews, usability-testing procedures, and brief surveys (n = 9, 55% female, 100% black, average age 38.5 years). Themes from the qualitative analysis illuminated varied knowledge regarding OSA symptoms and prevalent self-reported experience with sleep disturbance and OSA symptoms (e.g., snoring). On a scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very high), participants provided favorable ratings of website usefulness (mean = 4.9), user friendliness (mean = 4.9) and attractiveness (mean = 4.3). Our findings suggest although tailored health communication has potential for serving as a tool for advancing health equity, usability-testing of health materials is critical to ensure that culturally and linguistically tailored messages are acceptable and actionable in the intended population.
Subject(s)
Awareness , Black or African American , Health Promotion , Sleep Apnea, Obstructive , Adult , Female , Humans , Internet , Interviews as Topic , Male , Prevalence , Qualitative Research , Sleep Apnea, Obstructive/epidemiology , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
The use of health communication extends beyond simply promoting or disseminating a particular product or proposed behavior change; it involves the systematic and strategic integration and execution of evidence-based, theory-driven, and community engagement strategies. Much like in public health intervention design based on health behavior theory, health communication seeks to encourage the target audience to make a positive behavior change through core concepts such as understanding and specifying the target audience, tailoring messages based on audience segmentation, and continually conducting evaluation of specific and overarching goals. While our first article "Development of a Culturally Relevant Consumer Health Information Website for Harlem, New York" focused on the design, development, and initial implementation of GetHealthyHarlem.org between 2004 and 2009, this article delves into the process of promoting the website to increase its use and then evaluating use among website visitors. Just as for the development of the website, we used community-based participatory research methods, health behavior theory, and health communication strategies to systemically develop and execute a health communication plan with the goals of increasing awareness of GetHealthyHarlem.org in Harlem, driving online traffic, and having the community recognize it as a respected community resource dedicated to improving health in Harlem.
Subject(s)
Community Health Services/methods , Consumer Health Information/methods , Health Communication/methods , Health Promotion/methods , Internet , Community-Based Participatory Research , Community-Institutional Relations , Consumer Health Information/organization & administration , Health Promotion/organization & administration , Humans , Internet/organization & administration , Internet/statistics & numerical data , New York City , Program Development , Program Evaluation , Public Health Practice , Social Marketing , Social MediaABSTRACT
The process of creating a geographically tailored health information website with ongoing feedback from community members is one of inquiry and discovery, frustration and triumph, and development and reevaluation. This article reviews the development and implementation of GetHealthyHarlem.org, a health literacy level-appropriate consumer health information website tailored to consumers in Harlem, New York City. From 2004 to 2009, the Harlem Health Promotion Center, one of 37 Prevention Research Centers in the United States, sought to determine the use and seeking of online health information in Harlem, New York City in order to further explore the possibility of providing online health information to this community. Specifically, this article details how we sought to identify gaps, concerns, and uses of online health information and health care seeking in this local, predominantly racial and ethnic minority population. We review how we identified and addressed the multitude of variables that play a role in determining the degree of success in finding and using online health information, and include discussions about the genesis of the website and our successes and challenges in the development and implementation stages.
Subject(s)
Consumer Health Information , Culture , Health Literacy , Internet , Humans , New York City , Program Development , United StatesABSTRACT
GetHealthyHarlem.org is a community website developed on an open-source platform to facilitate collaborative development of health content through participatory action research (PAR) principles. The website was developed to enable the Harlem community to create a shared health and wellness knowledgebase, to enable discourse about local and culturally relevant health information, and to foster social connections between community members and health promotion organizations. The site is gaining active use with more than 9,500 unique site visits in the six months since going live in November, 2008. In ongoing research studies, we are using the website to explore how the PAR model can be applied to the development of a community health website.
Subject(s)
Community-Based Participatory Research , Consumer Health Information , Health Promotion , Internet , Consumer Health Information/statistics & numerical data , Humans , Internet/statistics & numerical data , New York City , Public HealthABSTRACT
Although e-mail has become a popular means of communication among consumers, particularly youth, available evidence suggests that current use of this modality to facilitate communication between consumers and their health providers is relatively modest. Historically, structural and legal issues have provided substantial impediments; however, new developments in providing secure and protected mechanisms for transmitting and delivering e-mail messages may pave the way to enhance use and improve communication.
Subject(s)
Adolescent Health Services , Computer Security , Confidentiality , Electronic Mail , Adolescent , Computer Security/economics , Confidentiality/legislation & jurisprudence , Electronic Mail/legislation & jurisprudence , Humans , Interpersonal Relations , Parents , Practice Patterns, Physicians'ABSTRACT
Consumer health informatics has emerged as a strategy to inform and empower patients for self management of their health. The emergence of and explosion in use of user-generated online media (e.g.,blogs) has created new opportunities to inform and educate people about healthy living. Under a prevention research project, we are developing a website that utilizes social content collaboration mediums in conjunction with open-source technologies to create a community-driven resource that provides users with tailored health information.
Subject(s)
Consumer Health Information , Health Promotion/methods , Internet , Social Support , Humans , Information Dissemination , New York CityABSTRACT
We describe the steps taken by the Harlem Health Promotion Center to develop a community-specific health web portal aimed at promoting health and well-being in Harlem. Methods and results that begin with data collection and move onto elucidating requirements for the web portal are discussed. Sentiments of distrust in medical institutions, and the desire for community specific content and resources were among the needs emanating from our data analysis. These findings guided our decision to customize social software designed to foster connections, collaborations, flexibility, and interactivity; an "architecture of participation". While, we maintain that the leveraging of social software may indeed be the way to build healthy communities and support learning and engagement in underserved communities, our conclusion calls for careful thinking, testing and evaluation research to establish best practice models for leveraging these emerging technologies to support health improvements in the community.