Health Communication
Volume 34, Issue 11, 2019, Pages 1259-1269
Analyzing Trend for U.S. Immigrants’ e-Health Engagement from 2008 to 2013 (Article)
Zhao X.* ,
Yang B. ,
Wong C.-W.
-
a
Department of Communication Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong
-
b
Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science, School of Public Health, Georgina State University, United States
-
c
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, North Carolina State University, United States
Abstract
Our study examines the trend of U.S. immigrants’ engagement in various e-health activities and how immigrants’ use of e-health technologies is associated with their cultural characteristics over years. Aggregating three national representative samples of U.S. immigrants from the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) conducted between 2008 and 2013, our results from trend analyses and logistic regressions revealed that the U.S. immigrants exhibited an increasing trend on two types of e-health engagement: tracking personal health information online and communicating with a doctor online. But we did not find any significant change in the other two e-health activities throughout these years: the percentage of immigrants who sought a health provider online remained moderate (about 37%), whereas the percentage of immigrants who joined an online support group kept low (about 5%). Furthermore, immigrants of different race/ethnicity or length of residence in the United States showed different trends of e-health engagement. Asian immigrants and immigrants with 13–34 years of residence were more proactive to engage in various e-health activities. Our study informs the practice aiming to enhance U.S. immigrants’ Internet use for better health-related outcomes. © 2018, © 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Author Keywords
[No Keywords available]
Index Keywords
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85047136158&doi=10.1080%2f10410236.2018.1475999&partnerID=40&md5=0a3194662b7c9925454e5e28e65dff88
DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2018.1475999
ISSN: 10410236
Cited by: 1
Original Language: English