Development of targeted message concepts for recent Asian immigrants about secondhand smoke.
Residents of Boston's Chinatown and the Vietnamese community in Boston's Dorchester section are recent immigrants from China and Vietnam, countries whose smoking prevalence rates for men are among the highest in the world and whose rates for women are very low. We conducted exploratory focus groups in these communities to examine issues related to secondhand smoke and to generate message concepts for health education materials that would convince recent Asian immigrants to respond to the public health threat that secondhand smoke poses. The message concepts, which were tailored specifically for Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants, used themes that were consistent with the cultural values of each group as expressed in the focus groups, yet also reflected the fact that, in many ways, these immigrants are seeking to adapt to American norms. We suggest that it is possible to construct culturally appropriate health education materials for recent immigrant populations rather than rely on simple translations of English-language materials. An intervention study using these message concepts is needed.
Brugge
Doug
D
Tufts University School of Medicine Boston, Massachusetts 02111, USA. dbrugge@aol.com
Dejong
William
W
Hyde
James
J
Le
Quang
Q
Shih
Chin-Shui
CS
Wong
Ann
A
Tran
An
A
D001213:Asian / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology; D001900:Boston; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D017144:Focus Groups; D015438:Health Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D010565:Persuasive Communication; D011634:Public Health; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014744:Vietnam / Q000208:ethnology
D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution