Abstract A039: Health information sources among Pacific Islanders in Guam and Hawaii: The association of migrant status and acculturation with Internet use and cancer fatalism
Authors: Somera Lilnabeth P , Badowski Grazyna , Cassell Kevin , Lee Hye-ryeon 
Published: September 2020

Background US Pacific Islanders (USPI) are one of the fastest growing population groups, and cancer is the leading cause of death among them. Limited knowledge about the health communication practices of USPI is a barrier to effective cancer prevention programs. Methods As a part of a special HINTS (Health Information National Trends Survey) initiative, a modified HINTS was conducted to understand health communication practices of USPI in Guam and Hawaii, including long-term residents and recent migrants from the Freely Associated States. Using respondent-driven sampling (Heckathorn, 1997) the HINTS was administered to 1,543 USPI in 2018. Measures of health information patterns, acculturation, and other variables were obtained. To examine the association between migrant status, acculturation and use of the Internet as the preferred source of health information, logistic regression analyses (adjusted for gender, age, and education) was conducted. We also examined the prevalence and correlates of cancer fatalism. Results Only 33.2% participants reported that they went to the Internet first the most recent time they looked for the information about health and medical topics. An even smaller percentage (17.3%) reported that they would seek information from Internet first in the future if they had a strong need. Data show distinctive health communication patterns and experiences among three populations (those who were born in the US, earlier migrants before 2012, and recent migrants since 2012). There is a strong association between migrant status and Internet use. Earlier and recent migrants were less likely to use the Internet first on the most recent health information search compared with those who were born in the US (OR=047; 95% CI: 0.33, 0.68 and OR=0.44; 95% CI: 0.22, 0.86 respectively). Also, intending to use Internet first in the future was less likely among earlier migrants (OR=0.51; 95% CI: 0.36, 0.7 4) and recent migrants (OR=0.37; 95% CI: 0.18, 0.77) when compared with US born respondents. There appears to be a strong association between migrant status and Internet use. Acculturation was not significantly related to Internet use. Most individuals (73.4%) indicated agreeing or strongly agreeing with the belief that everything causes cancer, and majority of respondents (55.8%) indicated agreeing or strongly agreeing that there is not much you can do to prevent cancer. This cancer fatalism was not significantly associated with migrant status. However, it was strongly associated with acculturation. Those reported participating often in their ethnic traditions were almost twice as likely (OR=1.9; 95% CI: 1.46, 2.46) to belief that there is not much you can do to prevent cancer when compared with those did not participate. These findings suggest that differential levels of digital literacy and the influence of ethnic social networks and migration status could impact the efficacy of cancer prevention strategies for USPI populations.

Citation Format: Lilnabeth P Somera, Grazyna Badowski, Kevin Cassell, Hye-ryeon Lee. Health information sources among Pacific Islanders in Guam and Hawaii: The association of migrant status and acculturation with Internet use and cancer fatalism [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Twelfth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2019 Sep 20-23; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(6 Suppl_2):Abstract nr A039.