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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Nora Gimpel, MD¹, Alice Marcee, DVM, MS¹, Richard Scotch, PhD², Jill Whitfill¹, Jennifer Bridges², Alicia Hope Durst², Phung Tran², and Jose Velez². (1) Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 6263 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX 75390, 214-648-0768, nora.gimpel@utsouthwestern.edu, (2) School of Social Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Box 830688, Richardson, TX 75083-0688

Improving effective health-information outreach in a community requires a needs assessment capturing the multi-dimensional factors influencing the flow of health information. This study examines Social Network Analysis (SNA) as a tool for capturing an undefined community's dissemination of health information. Members of this undefined community were linked by their use of a community food panty.

A convenience sample of 139 clients were interviewed at the food pantry. Interviews were structured using an 87-item questionnaire measuring environmental, social, and physical dimensions of health; and the SF-8 health survey measuring health status. Relationship structures and the flow of health information were analyzed.

Study participants were predominately female (61.9%) and African American (69.1%), with an average age of 51 years (SD 11.6). Participants' mental and physical health status was below the average for the U.S. population. The majority of the participants reported having 10 contacts within their immediate network, with an average of 6 (SD 2.7) contacts. Parents were identified as the primary source of health information, followed by the healthcare system. The majority of participants also call upon their parents for help when they are acutely ill. Sixty percent reported that the information they received from family members always influences their decisions.

The finding that parents and other family members serve as educators to other adult family members, illustrates how health information is shared across the network. This finding exposes a potential mechanism for individual community members to serve as targeted distribution points in the dissemination of health information throughout a network.

Learning Objectives:

• 1.Discuss and evaluate the application of social network analysis techniques to the study of health information needs in a community.
• 2.Identify the primary sources of health information within an underserved community.
• 3.Describe the role of a community’s social network in improving effective health-information dissemination.

Keywords: Community Education, Health Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation