Empowering%20Minority%20Communities%20With%20Online%20Health%20Information:%20A%20curriculum%20Development%20and%20Information%20Dissemination%20Success%20Story

1
Empowering Minority Communities With Online
Health Information A curriculum Development and
Information Dissemination Success Story

• Marie St. Rose, PhD, RN
• Norfolk State University
• June 9, 2008

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Introduction

• The spread of HIV among college students
  continues to be of public concern.
• Specifically, there is an urgent need to develop
  strategies to combat the threat of HIV/AIDS among
  African American college students (Chng, Carlon,
  Toynes, 2006).

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Background

• Program planners, educators, and health
  professionals are challenged to find more
  effective ways to convey HIV health information .
• The internet has become an important channel for
  disseminating health information and researchers
  are providing empirical evidence about the
  quality of this information (Schiavo, 2008) .
• Although many college students are computer
  literate and have internet skills, some lack the
  ability to find credible health information for
  their personal use
• Compared to other racial groups, African
  Americans are less likely to have access to the
  internet (Suarez-Balcazar, Kinney, Cassey,
  Muhammad, 2005).

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Background contd

• As part of an initiative to improve the
  health of African Americans, the United Negro
  College Fund Special Programs (UNCFSP) and the
  National Library of Medicine (NLM) supported and
  funded a research-based project at Norfolk State
  University titled Enhancing Educational
  Opportunities in HIV Prevention and Risk
  Reduction for African American College Students
  through Online Health Information and Community
  Service Learning
• The program was delivered at Norfolk State
  University.
• A detailed description of the program is
  published (Journal of the National Society of
  Allied Health, Volume 5, number 6- spring/summer
  2008)
• For the purpose of this presentation, two
  elements of the program will be discussed

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Two elements of the program

• Training students in ways of improving their
  skills in obtaining HIV information from the
  online resources of the National Library of
  Medicine
• Infusing HIV information into the curriculum
  content of undergraduate programs

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Training

• The students participated in three formal
  workshops (i.e., the NLM competency training).
  The first workshop was conducted by a librarian
  and was provided to 10 peer educators. The two
  other workshops were conducted by peer educators
  and were provided to program participants
• The training involved teaching the students
  how to access, navigate, and retrieve HIV
  prevention and risk reduction information from
  the online resources of the National Library of
  Medicine

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Training contd

• The program participants provided the National
  Library of Medicines competency training to
  another group of young African Americans on
  campus and in the nearby communities
• (St. Rose, Fuller, Jones, 2008).

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Curriculum

• The curriculum was expanded to include HIV
  information into the following courses
• HIM 120- Medical Terminology
• BIO 351 Principles of Genetics
• HRP 290 African American Health

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Curriculum contd

• An HIV 101 online course was developed and it is
  available in blackboard
• HIV information is communicated through brochures
  and flyers
• The NLM website httpaids.nlm.nih.gov is posted
  on the webpage of NSU library

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Summary of findings

• The training was implemented with little
  difficulty because the students and community
  members had the skills to use the computer
• The students showed eagerness in learning how to
  seek quality health information online
• The hands- on skill training was appreciated
  because it covered a wide scope of HIV
  information that was unknown to the students
• The students stated that the training was
  instrumental and helped them to commit to making
  better health decisions

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Summary of findings contd

• The students expressed that the training
  provided an opportunity to develop leadership and
  communication skills.
• The students reported that the amount of
  HIV/AIDS information and the prevalence of
  HIV/AIDS statistics overwhelmed and shocked the
  students and community members.
• The students reported that the training probably
  increased their understanding about their
  attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and expectations
  about their health.
• A total of 1,040 young people received the NLM
  competency training (St. Rose, Fuller, Jones,
  2008)

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Relevance to practice

• The students who received the training will soon
  enter their health professions (such as nursing,
  allied health) and may be required to assist
  clients to find quality online health information.

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References

• Chng C., Carlton A., Toynes B. (2006). HIV on
  historically black colleges and universities
  (HBCU) A study of five campuses in Texas,
  Oklahoma, Louisiana. College Student Journal, 40,
  25-34.
• Schiavo R. (2008). Digital Marketing the rise of
  e-health Current trends and topics on online
  health communications. Journal of Medical
  Marketing, 8, 9-18.
• St. Rose M., Fuller, M K., Jones, R C. (2008).
  An alternative HIV prevention approach for
  African American college students. A preliminary
  investigation. Journal of the National Society of
  Allied Health, 5, 79-85.
• Suarez-Balcazar, Y., Kinney, L., Masi, C M.,
  Cassey, M Z., Muhammad, B. (2005). A
  participatory internet initiative in an African
  American Neighborhood. Journal of Prevention
  Intervention in the Community, 29, 103-116.