Health Literacy Project Homepage

Welcome to the Culture and Health Literacy
Project Homepage


Introduction
Too often, people with the greatest health burdens have limited access to health information and limited ability to process that information. Funded by the National Cancer Institute, this four-year, mixed-method study aims to broaden our understanding of health literacy by exploring the often-neglected cultural factors that shape health literacy in low-income, ethnic minority and immigrant populations. The study is based in Springfield, Massachusetts at the Caring Health Center. Located in a federally-designated refugee resettlement area, Caring Health Center is a federally-funded Section 330 primary care clinic that serves predominantly low income and minority patients. The health center serves a patient population that is 34% African-American, 37% Hispanic, 15% Russian immigrant and 10% Vietnamese immigrants. Over 50% of CHC’s adult patients require translation services.



What is health literacy? Why is it important?
Health literacy is often defined as the ability to understand and act on a doctor's instructions. Health literacy is increasingly recognized as an important factor in patient compliance and health outcomes. In the past, narrow definitions of health literacy have neglected cultural factors that shape patient's understandings of health and illness in low-income, ethnic minority and immigrant populations. Click here to learn more about this "traditional" definition of health literacy.

Since much of the existing research narrowly focuses on cognition and a patient’s ability to read and comprehend instructions, we sought to explore aspects of diverse patients' cultural background that may play an important and under-emphasized role in a patient’s willingness or ability to follow their physician’s instructions. Click here to learn more about this more cultural conception of health literacy, including a link to a PDF of Dr. Shaw's 2005 Medical Anthropology Quarterly article on this topic.



Project Description
While much research has been done on patient literacy and readability, less work has been done that places health literacy in the broader context of socioeconomic and cultural differences between patients and providers that hinder communication and compliance.

Over the course of the study, clinic patients from four ethnic groups who have a medical diagnosis of diabetes or hypertension were interviewed using an epidemiological survey while qualitative data will be collected through in-depth interviewing, home visits, and chronic disease diaries. Click here to learn more about the research methods used in this study.

The project is a follow-up to a related pilot study, Evaluating Culturally Appropriate Health Care (R03 HS014086-01) conducted at Caring Health Center from 2003-2005, while Dr. Shaw was a researcher at the Hispanic Health Council.



In the News!

Click here here to veiw a 4-minute video clip about this project that aired in Fall 2007 on KUAT, the local Tucson PBS affiliate. Also found at the U of A's School of Anthropology video site


Click here and skip to 10:37 to listen to the Culture and Health Literacy Project's and Caring Health Center's own Cristina Huebner discuss culture and healthcare in regards to refugees and immigrants in an interview with Tina Antolini on WFCR.



Culture and Health Literacy Project Papers and Presentations to Date
Click here to see selected papers on our findings



More About "Traditional" Health Literacy More About A Cultural Conception of Health Literacy Research Design & Methods Papers and Presentations Culture and Health Web Links


The Fine Print



Study Team Members

  • Julie Armin, M.A., University of Arizona, Qualitative Data Manager
  • Anne Awad, CEO, Caring Health Center, Springfield, MA, Co-investigator
  • Cristina Huebner, M.A., Caring Health Center, Inc., Study Coordinator
  • Mark Nichter, Ph.D., Regents’ Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Co-investigator
  • Victor Reyes, University of Arizona, Undergraduate Qualitative Data Assistant
  • Fayana Richards, University of Arizona, Project Coordinator
  • Susan J. Shaw, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Principal Investigator
  • Jim Vivan, Ph.D., University of Connecticut Health Center, Data Analyst

    • Former Team Members
  • Kay Orzech, M.A., Ph.D Candidate, University of Arizona, Quantitative Data Manager
  • Chandy Leverance, University of Arizona, Undergraduate Quantitative Data Assistant


    • This website last updated on November 5, 2009