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Abstract #162240

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Kalahn Taylor-Clark, PhD, MPH¹, Sherrie Flynt Wallington, PhD¹, Kelly D. Blake, MS², and K. Vish Viswanath, PhD³. (1) Population Sciences, Harvard School of Public Health/Dana Farber Cancer Institute, 375 Longwood Avenue, LW-747, Boston, MA 02115, 617.582.7463, ktaylor@hsph.harvard.edu, (2) Harvard School of Public Health, 44 Binney Street, SM 251, Boston, MA 02115-6084, (3) Department of of Society, Human Development and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, 7th Floor, Boston, MA 02115

Communication research suggests that as more health information flows to the general public, underserved racial/ethnic minority women may benefit less compared to women who are better off because of differential access to and ability to utilize information. This finding has significant implications for preventing human papilloma virus (HPV) among the underserved. For example, a recent study reported that a prior HPV diagnosis was strongly associated with awareness of HPV after controlling for socio-demographic characteristics. While African American women (83%) were more likely than White (80%) or Latina (75%) women to report having had a Pap smear in the past 3 years, Black (33%) and Latina (28%) women were still significantly less likely than white women (44%) to have heard of HPV, despite being at least as likely to be diagnosed with disease. Such differential awareness could be the result of poor provider-patient communication or lower access to, and trust in information on HPV from different sources.

This presentation, using a mixed-methods approach, draws from national survey data (HINTS-2005) and focus groups to describe challenges in health-information seeking among low-SEP Black and Latina women.

Our data suggest that women from racial and ethnic minority groups are likely to face many barriers to accessing important communication channels such as the Internet. Further, complicated language and biased sources of information may challenge these women's abilities to process health information. These data will be important for health care providers and public health officials who seek to provide HPV risk communications to vulnerable populations.

Learning Objectives:

• Assess the communication barriers that low-SEP minority women face in obtaining HPV and cervical cancer information.
• Describe the sources and forms of HPV information that low-SEP minority women prefer.
• Develop a strategic HPV risk communication strategy for vulnerable populations that incorporates the findings of this study.

Keywords: Health Information, Women's Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

• Audio (mp3) recording
• Slides (pdf) or Handout
• Multimedia recording