Online HIV prevention information: : how black female college students are seeking and perceiving

• Autores: Fay Cobb Payton, Lynette Kvasny, James Kiwanuka-Tondo
• Localización: Internet research: Electronic networking applications and policy, ISSN 1066-2243, Vol. 24, Nº 4, 2014, págs. 6-7
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Purpose - Two research questions are addressed: (1) What are Black female college students� perceptions of current messages present on websites about HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention? and (2) What messages do Black female college students find culturally relevant to them, and why? Results indicate that these women perceive several communication barriers including lack of trust and unfamiliarity with information sources, stigma ascribed to HIV, as well as misconceptions and traditional values held by some in the Black community and health institutions. HIV prevention messages are perceived as relevant if they exhibit qualities including interactive features Design/methodology/approach - To understand Black collegiate women as health information seekers, it is important to engage paradigms that allow researchers to make sense of how group members construct their content needs, what helps shape this construction, and the meaning derived from the consumption of the information, focus groups are an effective qualitative method for enabling collective discussion and interaction between research participants that facilitates the exploration of under-researched topics like HIV prevention as well as the language commonly used by respondents to describe HIV from a socio-cultural perspective. Our research team conducted three focus groups to appraise current Black female college students� attitudes and perceptions of messages presented on HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness websites Findings - HIV prevention messages are perceived as relevant if they exhibit qualities including interactive features, practical advice using non-technical vocabulary, content authored and disseminated by familiar and trustworthy individuals and institutions, and risk related to individual behaviors rather than the demographic group. Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research on the design of health information systems are provided.

    Research limitations/implications - This research is based on a small sample size based on one region of the U.S.

    Practical implications - Health communication materials should also provide strategies for dispelling myths, and combatting feelings of stigma and mistrust. In addition, practical advice such as questions to ask physicians may help to produce positive and desirable outcomes as Black women seek services from the healthcare system. The message itself must take into account a number of factors include short and simple messages, clean web pages, navigation structures that make information easy to find, comprehensive information all found in a single website, and interactive features to facilitate discussion and sharing. In particular, with social media, women can also play a role in the creation and dissemination of health messages in multiple modalities including text, spoken word, still and moving images, and music.

    Originality/value - We seek to create an online and socially connected experience characteristic of ongoing user input and active engagement in content development which targets the population. From a human computer interaction viewpoint, we are seeking to avoid design divorced from context and meaning. In developing such an experience, we will need to triangulate the roles of culture, context and design to reduce the content divide, yet amplify the notion of participatory web. Participatory web embodies a social justice movement to build web content from voices typically dampened in the discourse. It (re)shapes meaning, identity and ecologies in the process of foci on particular social, health and political causes (e.g., HIV/AIDS). Giving Black women ownership over the creation of health information on the Internet may improve our ability to provide targeted HIV prevention content that is culturally salient and more effective in reducing HIV infections in this community.