Data from University of Texas Health Science Center Advance Knowledge in Health Insurance (Types and Factors Associated With Online Health…

Data from University of Texas Health Science Center Advance Knowledge in Health Insurance (Types and Factors Associated With Online Health Information Seeking Among College Men in Latino Fraternities: A Qualitative Study)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Managed Care Weekly Digest -- Research findings on Health Insurance are discussed in a new report. According to news originating from Brownsville, Texas, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, "Despite the fact that a large percentage of Americans go online to seek health information, literature pertaining to online health information (OHI) seeking among college men in Latino fraternities (CMLF) has been nonexistent. Thus, the purpose of this study was to (a) identify the types of OHI that CMLF seek and (b) to determine the factors motivating OHI seeking among CMLF."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the University of Texas Health Science Center, "Four 1- to 1.5-hour focus groups were conducted in two public universities in Florida with 41 college-aged Latino males in an established Latino fraternity. E-mails were used to recruit fraternity members. Qualitative analysis of the focus group transcripts identified that CMLF search for a variety of OHI types including searches on symptoms, diagnoses, weight loss, and treatments for conditions or diseases among other types of OHI. Factors motivating OHI seeking included informational needs of others and concerns for others, worries due to lack of health insurance, preoccupations with health condition, concerns over physical appearance, and clarification through social media. CMLF may be elicited to serve as information conduits to increase access to health information on chronic diseases for older non-English-speaking Latino adults. Lack of health insurance along with other factors in this segment of the population have led to self-diagnosis and self-treatment of illness."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "Thus, empirical research and health promotion on the potential risks due to self-diagnosing and self-treatment of illness is warranted among CMLF."

For more information on this research see: Types and Factors Associated With Online Health Information Seeking Among College Men in Latino Fraternities: A Qualitative Study. American Journal of Mens Health, 2017;11(6):1692-1702. American Journal of Mens Health can be contacted at: Sage Publications Inc, 2455 Teller Rd, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320, USA (see also Health Insurance).

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from E.A. Chavarria, Univ Texas Hlth Sci Center Houston, Dept. of Hlth Promot & Behav Sci, Brownsville, TX 78520, United States. Additional authors for this research include E.H. Chaney, M.L. Stellefson, J.D. Chaney, N. Chavarria and V.J. Dodd.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1177/1557988315626510. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Keywords for this news article include: Brownsville, Texas, United States, North and Central America, Health Insurance, University of Texas Health Science Center.

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