Importance of native language in a population-based health survey among ethnic Chinese in Australia.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the impacts of survey languages on participation and representativeness of the study subjects in a health survey in a Chinese community in Australia.


METHODS
A random sample of 500 ethnic Chinese in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia was surveyed during November 2005 to February 2006 by using a bilingual survey questionnaire in their preferred languages, i.e. English or Chinese.


RESULTS
210 questionnaires were returned. Two-thirds of the participants chose to answer the questionnaires in Chinese. Besides being older with relatively lower income, they were more likely to be married, have a Chinese family doctor, and visit a Chinese medicine practitioner. Fewer of them have visited the Diabetes Australia website or read any educational information materials about diabetes.


CONCLUSIONS
The multilingual approach is crucial to improving participation and representativeness of samples from ethnic populations.
Wong
Kam Cheong
KC
Centre for Chronic Disease, School of Medicine, University of Queensland. z.wang@uq.edu.au
Wang
Zhiqiang
Z
D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D003142:Communication; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires