“B” Healthy Model Care Program community survey: Hepatitis B knowledge, attitudes and practices among Asian American adolescents and adults in New York City

Background: Hepatitis B is well studied as a disease, but poorly understood by consumers. Although some literature has discussed the knowledge deficits concerning hepatitis B, most have failed to include Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPIs), the population in which Hepatitis B is most prevalent.

Project Description: In 2006, the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center (CBWCHC), in partnership with the Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO), conducted a community survey as part of the “B Healthy Model Care Program”. The objective of the survey was to examine baseline knowledge about hepatitis B and general attitudes and practices towards hepatitis B screening, vaccination, and treatment in AAPI adults between the ages of 18 and 40 living in the New York City metropolitan area. The study was approved by the New York Downtown Hospital IRB.

Lessons Learned: 189 subjects completed the survey. Findings suggest that although most AAPI adults know of hepatitis B, this knowledge is vague and muddled. Participants believed that Hepatitis B can be transmitted by eating contaminated food (41%), kissing an infected person (50%), or being coughed or sneezed on by an infected person (51%). This descriptive study made a unique contribution in establishing a baseline for future AAPI community hepatitis B knowledge, attitudes and practices studies, and in facilitating the development of more culturally appropriate intervention strategies and educational measures that serve to reduce the disproportionately high rates of hepatitis B infection in the AAPI community.