Abstract
BackgroundWhile mass media communications can be an important source of health information, there are substantial social disparities in health knowledge that may be related to media use. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the use of cancer-related health communications is patterned by race, ethnicity, language, and social class.Methodology/Principal FindingsIn a nationally-representative cross-sectional telephone survey, 5,187 U.S. adults provided information about demographic characteristics, cancer information seeking, and attention to and trust in health information from television, radio, newspaper, magazines, and the Internet. Cancer information seeking was lowest among Spanish-speaking Hispanics (odds ratio: 0.42; 95% confidence interval: 0.28–0.63) compared to non-Hispanic whites. Spanish-speaking Hispanics were more likely than non-Hispanic whites to pay attention to (odds ratio: 3.10; 95% confidence interval: 2.07–4.66) and trust (odds ratio: 2.61; 95% confidence interval: 1.53–4.47) health messages from the radio. Non-Hispanic blacks were more likely than non-Hispanic whites to pay attention to (odds ratio: 2.39; 95% confidence interval: 1.88–3.04) and trust (odds ratio: 2.16; 95% confidence interval: 1.61–2.90) health messages on television. Those who were college graduates tended to pay more attention to health information from newspapers (odds ratio: 1.98; 95% confidence interval: 1.42–2.75), magazines (odds ratio: 1.86; 95% confidence interval: 1.32–2.60), and the Internet (odds ratio: 4.74; 95% confidence interval: 2.70–8.31) and had less trust in cancer-related health information from television (odds ratio: 0.44; 95% confidence interval: 0.32–0.62) and radio (odds ratio: 0.54; 95% confidence interval: 0.34–0.86) compared to those who were not high school graduates.Conclusions/SignificanceHealth media use is patterned by race, ethnicity, language and social class. Providing greater access to and enhancing the quality of health media by taking into account factors associated with social determinants may contribute to addressing social disparities in health.
Highlights
IntroductionRecent studies have shown that the benefits of health information are not distributed across socially distinct groups in the United States, and there appear to be disparities in how people attend to and take advantage of health information.[10,11] These inequalities in communication parallel with disparities in health
The structural information model (SIM) suggests that outcomes in individual and population health could be understood by examining how social determinants such as race, ethnicity, and class are related to how people access, seek, process, and use health information
Attention to health information sources Non-Hispanic blacks were more likely to pay attention to health messages on television (OR = 2.39; 95% CI = 1.88–3.04), on the radio (OR = 1.98; 95% CI = 1.46–2.68), in newspapers (OR = 1.65; 95% CI = 1.25–2.19), and in magazines (OR = 1.87; 95% CI = 1.48–2.36) compared to non-Hispanic whites (Table 3)
Summary
Recent studies have shown that the benefits of health information are not distributed across socially distinct groups in the United States, and there appear to be disparities in how people attend to and take advantage of health information.[10,11] These inequalities in communication parallel with disparities in health. Communication inequality has been offered as one potential mechanism linking social determinants to health outcomes in the structural information model (SIM).[8] In brief, the SIM suggests that outcomes in individual and population health could be understood by examining how social determinants such as race, ethnicity, and class are related to how people access, seek, process, and use health information. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the use of cancer-related health communications is patterned by race, ethnicity, language, and social class
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