Exploring Resources for Minority,
Multilingual and Multicultural Clients
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Define consumer health information as compared
to patient education,
Identify current trends of health information,
Identify health seeking behavior of consumers,
Define problems, challenges, concerns with health
literacy for multilingual consumers,
List selected multilingual consumer health
resources, and
Identify diversity and communication issues with
serving multilingual consumers.
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Access to quality health information improves
health decisions
Health disparities positively affected with
access to credible health information
Access to health information leads people to
ask informed questions
“…an umbrella term encompassing the continuum
extending from the specific information needs of
patients to the broader provision of health
information for the lay person"
(Consumer and Patient Health Information Section [CAPHIS] of the Medical
Library Association [MLA] at www.caphis.mlanet.org/activities/#purpose)
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Information on health and medical topics provided
in response to requests from the general public,
including patients and their families
May be information on the symptoms, diagnosis
and treatment of disease
May encompass information on health promotion,
wellness, preventive medicine, and accessing the
health care system
Can be actively sought or provided through a
campaign targeting a specific health condition
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A planned activity
Initiated by a health professional in order to
impart knowledge, change attitudes and
build skills
Has the specific goal of changing behavior,
increasing compliance with therapy and,
thereby, improving health
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Patients started taking more responsibility for their own
health care decisions and acting as their own advocates.
The "baby boom" generation, known for questioning
authority, started to reach the age when medical concerns
increase.
Health care providers adopted managed care models to
curtail health care costs.
The introduction of user-friendly Web browsers in 1995 made
both access and dissemination of information on the Internet
fast, easy and free.
Computers became affordable
From MLA News, January 2003/Number 351, pg. 14
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Eighty percent of American internet users--some
113 million adults--have searched for information
on at least one of seventeen health topics
Most internet users start at a general search engine
when researching health and medical advice online
(66%)
72% visited multiple sites
Most felt confident in their search
From the Pew Internet & American Life Project, October 29, 2006
http://www.pewinternet.org/
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Only a quarter of online health seekers said
they always or usually check the source and
date
In the 2001 report – half said they did so
And, half of the searches on the Internet are on
behalf of someone else
From the Pew Internet & American Life Project, October 29, 2006
http://www.pewinternet.org/
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Family and friends
Newspapers, magazines, pamphlet
Television, radio
Family doctor or other physician, doctor’s
staff
Health educators & patient educator
Public health workers and…
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Medical libraries (if open to the public)
Consumer health libraries
Public libraries
Churches, parish nurses, health ministers
Pharmacy/pharmacist
Conversations with doctors are often confusing
for me. They might well have warned me about
the [procedure], but I didn’t catch it. They
carefully explain things to me, and I make like
the intelligent, deeply comprehending person I
wish I could be. I nod and furrow my brow.
The doctors’ words run down one of my deep
furrows and keep right on running, out to the
foggy sunset…I just can’t focus on all the
variables.
Jack Slater
Seattle Times, December 3, 2003
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Physician’s query: “I need information on the
management of hypomagnesemia.”
Patient’s query: “I had diarrhea and I was in
the hospital for 18 days and now I’m
supposed to have transfusions. The doctor
says it’s to fix my muscles and nerves. Can
you look this up?”
Actual reference question
What the patron meant
Sick lick vomiting
Vascular urethral reflux
Dropped bladder
Fireballs in the eucharist
Cyclic vomiting
Vesicoureteral reflux
Cystocele
Fibroids in the uterus
The set of abilities needed to:
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recognize a health information need;
identify likely information sources and use
them to retrieve relevant information;
assess the quality of the information and its
applicability to a specific situation;
and analyze, understand, and use the
information to make good health decisions.
MLA Task Force on Health Information Literacy
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An estimated 90 million adults may lack the
literacy skills to use the US health system
effectively
Over 300 studies show that health-related
materials far exceed the average reading
ability of US adults
Health literacy is fundamental to quality
health care
Institute of Medicine report
“Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion”
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Imagine how much more complicated this
gets when you also factor in multicultural and
multilingual considerations!
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Set of behaviors that allows effective work to
occur
Culture – patterns of behavior
Competence – having the
capacity to function effectively
Cultural Competence
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http://gucchd.georgetown.edu/nccc/
• http://www.xculture.org/
• Bilingual medical glossaries in 21 different
languages--downloadable
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http://ethnomed.org/
• http://www3.baylor.edu/~Charles_Kemp/refugee_health.htm
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http://www.depts.washington.edu/pfes/cultureclu
es.html
NN/LM- Consumer Health Information in Many
Languages Resources
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http://nnlm.gov/outreach/consumer/multi.html
A collaboration of the National Network of
Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) Consumer
Outreach Librarians
Customized Search Engine to search the
listed web sites (not dictionaries)
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Immunization Action Coalition
◦ http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/noneng.htm
◦ Includes Vaccine Information Sheets in 36
languages
◦ http://www.healthyroadsmedia.org/
◦ http://library.med.utah.edu/24languages/
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National Center for Farmworker Health
◦ http://www.ncfh.org/pateduc.htm
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US FDA Easy to Read English/Spanish
◦ http://www.fda.gov/opacom/lowlit/englow.html
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Oregon Health Sciences University/Hood River
Community Health Outreach Project
http://www.ohsu.edu/library/hoodriver/pam
phlets/pamphletindex.shtml
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MedlinePlus
◦ Over 750 health topics including conditions,
procedures, wellness topics, and demographic
groups
◦ Full-text drug and herbal information
◦ Full-text encyclopedia with illustrations
◦ También en español and…
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Over 40 languages
Quality guidelines for
health information in
multiple languages
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Several web-based resources focusing on selected
ethnic and cultural groups:
◦ American Indian Health
 americanindianhealth.nlm.nih.gov
◦ Tribal Connections
 www.tribalconnections.org
◦ Asian American Health
 asianamericanhealth.nlm.nih.gov
◦ Arctic Health
 www.arctichealth.org
More are in the works…
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DiversityRX
◦ http://www.diversityrx.org/
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University of Michigan Health System:
Cultural Competence Web Resources
◦ http://www.med.umich.edu/Multicultural/ccp/culco
mp.htm
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American Association of Colleges of
Pharmacy: Cultural Competence
◦ http://www.aacp.org/site/page.asp?TRACKID=&VID
=1&CID=1181&DID=6751
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http://www.fda.gov/
womens/taketimeto
care/mymeds.html
US FDA Office of
Women’s Health and
The National
Association Of Chain
Drug Stores
1999!
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http://www.walgreens.com/spanish/default.jsp
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http://spiral.tufts.edu/
Selected Patient
Information Resources
in Asian Languages
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Aging, Medicines and Alcohol (U.S. Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration SAMSHA)
Antibiotics (Federation of Chinese American and
Chinese Canadian Medical Societies - FCMS)
Using Herbs (Health Information Translations)
Coumadin (Warfarin) (NYU Downtown
Hospital/Ehrman Digital Library)
Pain Management (University of Michigan Health
System)
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http://palantir.lib.uic.edu/salud/
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A Tutorial from the NLM
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/webeva
l/webeval.html
RHIN: Refugee Health Information Network
 http://www.hablamosjuntos.org/pdf_files/Bri
ef_NonEngl-Final2.pdf
 Developing Better Non-English Materials:
Understanding the Limits of Translation
Lisa Massengale, MLS
Assistant Information Services Librarian
University of Illinois at Chicago
Library of the Health Sciences
lmassen1@uic.edu
Jacqueline Leskovec, MLIS, MA, RN
Outreach and Evaluation Coordinator
NNLM/GMR
leskovec@uic.edu
For all regions: 800-338-7657
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