A pilot project to increase health literacy among youth from seasonal farmworker families in rural eastern North Carolina: a qualitative exploration of implementation and impact.

Publisher: Medical Library Association Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 101132728 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1558-9439 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 15365050 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Med Libr Assoc Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: Chicago, IL : Medical Library Association, c2002-

Health Literacy*; Farmers/*education ; Patient Education as Topic/*methods ; Transients and Migrants/*education; Adolescent ; Female ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; Internet ; Male ; North Carolina ; Pilot Projects ; Rural Population

Objective: There are substantial health inequalities for seasonal agricultural workers and their families in the United States. One identified inequality is in health literacy. The authors explored the implementation and impact of connecting youth from seasonal farmworker families who participated in a leadership and college pipeline program with Internet access by providing a tablet with a paid cellular data plan and university library-based health literacy training.
Methods: With the support of a National Network of Libraries of Medicine Health Information Outreach Award, we conducted a qualitative, utilization-focused evaluation by conducting semi-structured interviews from December 2017 through February 2018 with middle and high school age participants in the program (n=10). After parental consent and youth assent, we recorded interviews with participants at program activity locations or in their homes. We then utilized inductive thematic analysis with 2 primary coders.
Results: We identified four themes: (1) having access to the Internet can be transformative, (2) access resulted in increased knowledge of and interest in one's own and others' health, (3) "Google" is the norm, and (4) participant training increased self-efficacy to determine credible sources and resources.
Conclusion: Providing Internet access and iPads was possible to implement and resulted in increased utilization of health information. The combination of Internet access with training on information literacy was a key factor in achieving these positive outcomes. The findings suggest the importance of ensuring equitable access to the Internet in efforts to improve educational and health outcomes for seasonal farmworkers and their families.

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Date Created: 20190426 Date Completed: 20191209 Latest Revision: 20220408

20231215

PMC6466499

10.5195/jmla.2019.560

31019386