The Role of Culturally Appropriate Mediated Communication Strategies to Reduce Hepatitis B and Liver Cancer Disparities

Figures & data

Table 1. Demographic characteristics of focus group participants, 2021

			Residence N (%)		Born in U.S. N (%)
	Overall N (%)	Mean age in years^1	Urban	Suburban	No	Yes	Mean length of Time in U.S. in years
	101 (100)	52	84 (83.3)	16 (16.7)	92 (91.3)	8 (8.7)	25.3
Community Group
Chinese (Cantonese)	6	66.5	6 (100)	-	6 (100)	-	38.5
Chinese (Mandarin)	6	37	3 (50)	3 (50)	5 (83)	1 (17)	22
Filipinx	8	65	8 (100)	-	8 (100)	-	39.5
Hmong	6	36	3 (50)	3 (50)	1 (17)	5 (83)	23
Korean	9	55	9 (100)	-	9 (100)	-	19
Micronesian	5	45	5 (100)	-	5 (100)	-	24
Vietnamese	10	58	10 (100)	-	10 (100)	-	26
Ethiopian	6	54	3 (50)	3 (50)	6 (100)	-	32
Nigerian	9	62.5	9 (100)	-	9 (100)	-	35
Nigerian and Ghanian	6	53	2 (33)	4 (67)	6 (100)	-	18
West African	13	49	13 (100)	-	13 (100)	-	12
Somali	8	41.5	8 (100)	-	7 (87.5)	1 (12.5)	20
Haitian	9	58	9 (100)	-	9 (100)	-	20

¹Participant age was not asked directly in any focus group. Instead, age was determined by accounting for age upon arrival in the United States and length of time spent in the United States.

A total of 101 people participated in the focus groups. Most participants were foreign-born and spent an average of 25 years in the United States.

Table 2. Spoken language preferences by community group, 2021

	Language Preference
Community Group	Prefer English N (%)	Prefer a Language other than English N (%)	Prefer a combination (English & Another Language) N (%)
Chinese (Mandarin)	6 (100%)	-	-
Nigerian & Ghanaian (D.C.)	1 (16.67%)	1 (16.67%)	4 (66.67%)
Filipinx	4 (50%)	1 (12.5%)	3 (37.5%)
Chinese (Cantonese)	2 (33%)	4 (67%)	-
Micronesian	-	2 (40%)	3 (60%)
Hmong	5 (83%)	-	1 (17%)
Korean	-	9 (100%)	-
Nigerian (Chicago)	1 (11%)	3 (33%)	5 (56%)
West African	3 (23%)	10 (77%)	-
Ethiopian	2 (33%)	3 (50%)	1 (17%)
Somali	1 (12.5%)	4 (50%)	3 (37.5%)
Vietnamese	-	10 (100%)	-
Haitian	1 (11%)	8 (89%)	-
TOTAL	26 (28.71%)	55 (48.86%)	20 (22.44%)

Most participants preferred speaking a language other than English, others preferred speaking English, and some preferred speaking a combination of both English and another language.

Table 3. Comfort arranging doctor’s appointment and perceived severity of hepatitis B and liver cancer, by community group, 2021

Community Group	Comfort Level Arranging Doctor’s Appt* Mean (SD)	Perception of hepatitis B Severity Mean (SD)	Perception of Liver Cancer Severity Mean (SD)
Chinese (Mandarin)	5 (0)	4 (1)	5 (0)
Nigerian and Ghanaian (D.C.)	4.4 (1.1)	4 (1.1)	5 (0)
Filipinx	5 (0)	5 (0.5)	5 (0.35)
Chinese (Cantonese)	4 (0.9)	5 (0.5)	5 (0)
Micronesian	5 (0.9)	4 (0.5)	5 (0)
Hmong	5 (0.4)	3 (1.3)	5 (0)
Korean	2 (1.33)	4 (0.66)	5 (0.44)
Nigerian (Chicago)	4 (1.33)	5 (1.33)	5 (1.33)
West African	4 (1.4)	4 (1.3)	4 (1.5)
Ethiopian	5 (0)	4 (0.5)	5 (0.4)
Somali	5 (0.9)	5 (0.38)	4.5 (0.38)
Vietnamese	3 (0.99)	3 (1.2)	4 (1.3)
Haitian	3 (1.4)	4 (1.1)	5 (0.33)
TOTAL	4.18 (0.988)	4.15 (0.688)	4.81 (0.38)

Using a Likert-scale, with 1 being not at all comfortable and 5 being extremely comfortable, the average comfort level with arranging a doctor’s appointment among participants was 4.2. This was used as a proxy for comfort navigating the U.S. healthcare system. On a similar Likert scale, the average perceived severity of hepatitis B and liver cancer among participants was 4.2 and 4.8, respectively.

Table 4. Communication channel preferences by community group, 2021

	Mediated Communication Channel
	Visual Aids	Printed Materials	Social Media	Radio
Community Group
Chinese (Cantonese)
Chinese (Mandarin)			Yes: YouTube No: older people have difficulty
Filipinx			Yes: TikTok	Yes
Hmong		Yes	Yes: YouTube	Yes
Korean	Yes			Yes
Micronesian		No	No	Yes
Vietnamese			Yes: Facebook	Yes
Ethiopian		No
Nigerian
DC West African
Francophone West African				Yes
Somali			Yes: Facebook
Haitian	Yes	No	Yes: TikTok	Yes

This table represents the organic responses of participants but does not serve as a complete representation of all preferred and utilized mediated communication channels within each group.

Data Availability Statement

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article; further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.