Consumer health services and collections for Hispanics: an introduction.
Hispanics are the fastest growing minority population in the United States today. Providing health information services to Hispanic patients and their family members can be challenging because of diversity. Library staff should be familiar with the specific health care needs and sociocultural characteristics of Hispanics. This article discusses the movement toward providing culturally competent health care and identifies socioeconomic challenges and barriers to health care faced by Hispanics. Suggestions are offered for communicating with this group in the reference setting, and a selective bibliography of Internet consumer health resources available in both Spanish and English is provided.
Hartel
Lynda Jones
LJ
John A. Prior Health Sciences Library, Ohio State University, 376 West 10th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. hartel.642@osu.edu
Mehling
Rebecca
R
D003142:Communication; D003256:Community Participation; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D006266:Health Education; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007993:Libraries, Medical; D011361:Professional Competence; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States