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- Title
Information horizons mapping to assess the health literacy of refugee and immigrant women in the USA.
- Authors
Zimmerman, Margaret S.
- Abstract
Introduction. Refugees and immigrants are at a heightened risk of many negative health outcomes. Whilst strong health literacy ability may be a determinant of favourable health outcomes, assessing the health literacy of refugee and immigrant women is a challenge. Owing to typically lower literacy and English ability, one possible method to measure the health literacy of this population is to ask them to graphically represent their health-related information horizons. Method. Seventy-four women were asked to take a survey and answer open-ended questions about their health information seeking behaviour and demographic information. They were then asked to create an information horizons map in the context of health information seeking. Analysis. Each map was compared to the survey questions and specific questions were asked to gauge the health literacy of the participants. Using Sonnenwald’s methodology, the network of information resources for immigrant and refugee women was graphically displayed. Results. Women who drew more complex maps had survey responses that correlated with higher health literacy and eHealth literacy. Refugee women were less aware of health information sources than other immigrant women. Conclusions. Whilst more research is needed, this research provides evidence that information horizons mapping within a health information seeking context may be predictive of health literacy.
- Subjects
HEALTH literacy; HEALTH of immigrants; WOMEN refugees; LITERACY; EHEALTH Inc.
- Publication
Information Research, 2018, Vol 23, Issue 4, p1
- ISSN
1368-1613
- Publication type
Article