Tackling health literacy: adaptation of public hypertension educational materials for an Indo-Asian population in Canada

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Shefina Mawani¹  Sailesh Mohan²  Norman RC Campbell²  Charlotte A Jones²  Kathryn M King³  Megan Smith⁴  Selina Omar Allu⁴ 

[1] Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada;Faculty of Medicine, Departments of Medicine and Community Health Sciences University of Calgary, Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta, Calgary, Alberta, Canada;Faculty of Nursing and Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada;Hypertension Canada and University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada;

关键词: Health Literacy;    Educational Material;    Literacy Skill;    Target Community;    Cultural Appropriateness;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-11-24

 received in 2010-07-06, accepted in 2011-01-11,  发布年份 2011

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundIndo-Asians in Canada are at increased risk for cardiovascular diseases. There is a need for cultural and language specific educational materials relating to this risk. During this project we developed and field tested the acceptability of a hypertension public education pamphlet tailored to fit the needs of an at risk local Indo-Asian population, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.MethodsA community health board representing Calgary's Indo-Asian communities identified the culturally specific educational needs and language preferences of the local population. An adaptation of an existing English language Canadian Public Hypertension Recommendations pamphlet was created considering the literacy and translation challenges. The adapted pamphlet was translated into four Indo-Asian languages. The adapted pamphlets were disseminated as part of the initial educational component of a community-based culturally and language-sensitive cardiovascular risk factor screening and management program. Field testing of the materials was undertaken when participants returned for program follow-up seven to 12 months later.ResultsFifty-nine English-speaking participants evaluated and confirmed the concept validity of the English adapted version. 28 non-English speaking participants evaluated the Gujarati (N = 13) and Punjabi (N = 15) translated versions of the adapted pamphlets. All participants found the pamphlets acceptable and felt they had improved their understanding of hypertension.ConclusionsInvolving the target community to identify health issues as well as help to create culturally, language and literacy sensitive health education materials ensures resources are highly acceptable to that community. Minor changes to the materials will be needed prior to formal testing of hypertension knowledge and health decision-making on a larger scale within this at risk community.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Jones et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2011