Abstract
Chinese immigrants to North America have substantially higher rates of chronic hepatitis B infection than the general population. One area for strategic development in the field of health education is the design and evaluation of English-as-a-Second language (ESL) curricula. The theoretical perspective of the Health Behavior Framework, results from a community-based survey of Chinese Canadian immigrants with limited English proficiency, and findings from focus groups of ESL instructors as well as Chinese ESL students were used to develop a hepatitis B ESL educational module. This research was conducted in Vancouver, BC. Survey data showed that less than three-fifths of the respondents had been tested for hepatitis B, and documented some important hepatitis B knowledge deficits. Further, only about one-quarter had ever received a physician recommendation for hepatitis B serologic testing. The ESL curriculum aims to both promote hepatitis B testing and improve knowledge, and includes seven different ESL exercises: Warm-up, vocabulary cards, information-gap, video, jigsaw, guided discussion, and problem/advice cards. Our quantitative and qualitative methods for curriculum development could be replicated for other health education topics and in other limited English speaking populations.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 217-224 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Journal of Community Health |
Volume | 33 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 1 2008 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Chinese immigrants
- English as a second language (ESL)
- Health education
- Hepatitis B
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Health(social science)
- Health Professions(all)