Formative evaluation of a Spanish-language oral health information website

Hispanics/Latinos are the largest minority group in the U.S. Thirty-five percent get health information from the Internet, and a sizable portion say they are acting on this information. To help meet the dental and oral health information needs of U.S. Latinos, the NIH National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research created a new Spanish-language website. While it echoes the Institute's English site, both the content and graphic design of the Spanish site are tailored for Latinos. To determine if the website is understandable, credible, and attractive to the intended audience(s), focus groups were conducted with Spanish-dominant online health information seekers. Additional focus groups were conducted with bilingual individuals who use the Internet to find health information for themselves and for others who do not speak English. The eight focus groups were held in Chicago and Los Angeles and efforts were made to recruit participants from different countries of origin and with varying education levels. Secondary goals of the groups were to better understand the process Latinos undertake when seeking health information online (e.g., what types of health information they typically seek online; which websites and search engines they use; whether their searches are in Spanish or English or both; what they think of the quality of online health information) and to assess whether there are major differences between Spanish-dominant and bilingual individuals. Focus group results will be discussed, as will implications for creating culturally and linguistically appropriate websites.