Exploring health information acquisition and use by Latino parents in Marin County, California

Relevant health information is a crucial component of promoting optimal individual, family and community health, and culture plays an integral role in how people access and use health information. In conjunction with First Five Marin and the Marin County Department of Health and Human Services, students from MPH programs at San Francisco State and San Jose State Universities performed a community health assessment in five Marin County, California communities. Five face-to-face key informant interviews with Community Health Advocates and five Spanish-language focus groups with Latino parents of children aged 0-5 were conducted, with the purpose of exploring the ways that Latino parents of children prenatal to 5 years old living in these communities obtain and use health information. The most significant findings from the assessment include 1) trust, respect and familiarity are the most important predictors of who/what will be used as an information source and 2) the necessity for linguistically and culturally competent health education practices. The data lays the foundation for creating programs that address critical health literacy through community engagement and empowerment: involving community members as partners, supporting community identification of health priorities, providing health information in a cultural context, building upon existing social family networks and continuing to evaluate and define the definitions of cultural competency.