Health Literacy Proficiency, Sources of Health Information, and Perceived Barriers to Health Literacy among Selected Members of the Hmong Community in Minnesota
Author(s):
Vang, Amanda
Format:
Thesis
Degree granted:
M.S.
Publisher:
Ann Arbor : Minnesota State University, Mankato, 2015.
Pages:
78
Language:
English
Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to determine health literacy proficiency, sources of health information, and perceived barriers to health literacy among selected members of the Hmong community in Minnesota. Data for this cross-sectional study were collected using the Short Assessment on Health Literacy-English (SAHL-E) screening tool and a questionnaire. The SAHL-E screening tool and a questionnaire were distributed to 40 Hmong residents in the St. Paul/Minneapolis in Minnesota. When combining the numbers of health literacy scores, a mean of 15.5 was reported. The overall findings of this research assessed that the Hmong community in Minnesota has adequate health literacy level. Overall, the major source of health information is media technology (which included the Internet), follow by a medical setting. However, when it comes to being healthy or ill in the past, the primary source of health information was a family member, then media and medical. The barriers to achieving health literacy included understanding medial terms and lack of health knowledge.