Evaluating Local Multilingual Health Care Information Environments on the Internet: A Pilot Study
For foreign-born populations, difficulty in finding health care information in their primary language is a structural barrier to accessing timely health care. While such information may be available at a national level, it may not always be relevant or appropriate to the living situations of these p...
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doaj-cd306305ae894699b73d6f2a715c86502021-07-15T15:34:43ZengMDPI AGInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health1661-78271660-46012021-06-01186836683610.3390/ijerph18136836Evaluating Local Multilingual Health Care Information Environments on the Internet: A Pilot StudyRussell Miller0Nicholas Doria-Anderson1Akira Shibanuma2Jennifer Lisa Sakamoto3Aya Yumino4Masamine Jimba5Department of Community and Global Health, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, JapanDepartment of Community and Global Health, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, JapanDepartment of Community and Global Health, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, JapanDepartment of Community and Global Health, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, JapanDepartment of Community and Global Health, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, JapanDepartment of Community and Global Health, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, JapanFor foreign-born populations, difficulty in finding health care information in their primary language is a structural barrier to accessing timely health care. While such information may be available at a national level, it may not always be relevant or appropriate to the living situations of these people. Our objective was to explore the quality of online multilingual health information environments by pilot-testing a framework for assessing such information at the prefectural level in Japan. The framework consisted of five health care domains (health system, hospitals, emergency services, medical interpreters, and health insurance). Framework scores varied considerably among prefectures; many resources were machine-translated. These scores were significantly associated with foreign population proportion and the number of hospitals in each prefecture. Our multilingual health care information environment (MHCIE) framework provides a measure of health access inclusivity, which has not been quantified before. It is adaptable to other international contexts, but further validation is required.https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/13/6836information disseminationcommunication barriershealth resourcesJapan |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Russell Miller Nicholas Doria-Anderson Akira Shibanuma Jennifer Lisa Sakamoto Aya Yumino Masamine Jimba |
spellingShingle |
Russell Miller Nicholas Doria-Anderson Akira Shibanuma Jennifer Lisa Sakamoto Aya Yumino Masamine Jimba Evaluating Local Multilingual Health Care Information Environments on the Internet: A Pilot Study International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health information dissemination communication barriers health resources Japan |
author_facet |
Russell Miller Nicholas Doria-Anderson Akira Shibanuma Jennifer Lisa Sakamoto Aya Yumino Masamine Jimba |
author_sort |
Russell Miller |
title |
Evaluating Local Multilingual Health Care Information Environments on the Internet: A Pilot Study |
title_short |
Evaluating Local Multilingual Health Care Information Environments on the Internet: A Pilot Study |
title_full |
Evaluating Local Multilingual Health Care Information Environments on the Internet: A Pilot Study |
title_fullStr |
Evaluating Local Multilingual Health Care Information Environments on the Internet: A Pilot Study |
title_full_unstemmed |
Evaluating Local Multilingual Health Care Information Environments on the Internet: A Pilot Study |
title_sort |
evaluating local multilingual health care information environments on the internet: a pilot study |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |
issn |
1661-7827 1660-4601 |
publishDate |
2021-06-01 |
description |
For foreign-born populations, difficulty in finding health care information in their primary language is a structural barrier to accessing timely health care. While such information may be available at a national level, it may not always be relevant or appropriate to the living situations of these people. Our objective was to explore the quality of online multilingual health information environments by pilot-testing a framework for assessing such information at the prefectural level in Japan. The framework consisted of five health care domains (health system, hospitals, emergency services, medical interpreters, and health insurance). Framework scores varied considerably among prefectures; many resources were machine-translated. These scores were significantly associated with foreign population proportion and the number of hospitals in each prefecture. Our multilingual health care information environment (MHCIE) framework provides a measure of health access inclusivity, which has not been quantified before. It is adaptable to other international contexts, but further validation is required. |
topic |
information dissemination communication barriers health resources Japan |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/13/6836 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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