Family health history tools for public health prevention: Preferences among African Americans and Latinos in the community

National efforts have been undertaken to promote the use of the family health history as a tool to increase genetic literacy and promote health. Several tools have been developed by various health agencies to facilitate this process. Little effort has been undertaken to evaluate these tools for their appropriateness among underserved minority populations. The purpose of this study was to obtain user feedback on several family history tools from African Americans and Latinos in the community. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in community settings. A total of 30 user testing interviews were conducted. Each individual reviewed 1 multimedia-based and 1 print-based family history tool. A total of 7 tools were examined. Participants rated the tools in terms of clarity of instructions, ease of use (flow) and understanding (content), informative/helpfulness, and overall satisfaction. The majority of participants felt that the family history tools were easy to use and understand. Ratings for clarity of instructions, informative/helpfulness, and satisfaction varied greatly across tools evaluated. In general, Latinos rated the tools more favorably in terms of informative/helpfulness and overall satisfaction compared to African Americans. No differences in ratings were noted between multimedia-based and print-based tools when examined as a whole. Study results highlight the potential variability in impact across family history tools available to the general public. Qualitative feedback from the participants will be presented to highlight possible reasons for the variability across tools. Study findings will help identify barriers to the effective use of family history tools among underserved minority populations.