Overcoming Health Information Inequities: Valley fever Information Repertoires Among Vulnerable Communities in California

ABSTRACT

Although Valley fever represents a growing public health challenge for Central and Southern Californian residents, awareness remains severely limited. The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) ran a cross-platform campaign to mitigate this awareness gap and impact prevention behavior. This study evaluates exposure to the CDPH campaign, followed by an examination of the information consumption patterns associated with key health outcomes. Results suggest that the CDPH campaign successfully improved knowledge accuracy, reduced misperceptions, and increased the likelihood of prevention behavior. Using an information repertoire lens revealed a more nuanced account. Most information repertoires positively influenced accurate knowledge retention and prevention behavior compared to those who were not exposed. The most diverse information repertoire, including interpersonal and media channels, was associated with increased knowledge accuracy, affective risk concerns, personal susceptibility, and prevention behavior. However, exposure to this repertoire was also associated with greater misperceptions. In addition, medical professional and radio-based repertoires positively influenced personal susceptibility perceptions. Overall, this research illustrates the importance of examining not only the general outcomes of health campaigns but also the patterns of information acquisition – particularly when working with underserved communities whose health information consumption preferences may not be comprehensively reflected in the literature.

Acknowledgements

Sentient Research would like to thank the support and partnership of the California Department of Public Health, in particular Dr. Martha E. Dominguez, who led and contributed to the development and implementation of the Valley fever campaign in California, and all the partners and contractors.

Disclosure statement

The findings and conclusions in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the California Department of Public Health or the California Health and Human Services Agency.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2023.2288380

Notes

1. Of the seven counties listed, the Valley fever incidence rates per 100,000 are Kern, 305.7; Kings, 172.7; San Luis Obispo, 150.4; Fresno, 82.4; Madera, 41.3; Monterey, 41.1; and Tulare, 58.2.

2. Prevention behavior was also measured using a multiple-answer question with an added open-ended response option. Responses to this prevention behavior measure were summed to create an aggregate prevention behavior score. Both prevention behavior measures were analyzed and produced similar results. However, television and friend-based information repertoires did significantly predict prevention behavior using the aggregate measure and hierarchical linear regression. See supplementary data for result outputs.

3. The Two-Step cluster analysis is a hybrid approach which first uses a distance measure to separate groups and then a probabilistic approach (similar to latent class analysis) to choose the optimal subgroup model. The Two-Step method has been identified as a robust algorithm for cluster analysis (Gelbard et al., 2007; Kent et al., 2014).

4. The cluster analysis identified specific patterns in how participants accessed information during the campaign, rather than general exposure. The “radio-mostly” cluster, for example, includes participants who predominantly reported hearing about Valley fever on the radio. The “all channel exposure” cluster refers to the small audience segment (6.2%) who reported accessing campaign content from interpersonal sources like doctors, family, and friends as well as media channels including radio, TV, social media, print media, and online sources.

5. Television and friend-based information repertoires were not significant predictors using an aggregate measure of prevention behavior.

Additional information

Funding

This work was not supported by any funding.