A Novel Approach to Improving Health Literacy in Immigrant Communities

Authors;• Rhonda M. Johnson, DrPH, MPH, FNP• Linda Shepard, MSN, RN• Rain Van Den Berg, MPH• Chelsea Ward-Waller, MPH Student• Polly Smith, MEd• Barry D. Weiss, MD

Spanish 1,644Hmong 1,362Samoan 955Filipino 942Korean 193Nuer 154Yup'ik 148Lao 135Somali 115Russian 94Arabic 73Albanian 66Tongan 65Chinese 50Vietnamese 50Thai 47Japanese 41Inupiaq 33Nepali 31Mien 30

German 25French 20Urdu 19Khmer 16Polish 15Triqui 15Palau 14Wolof 14Bengali 12Dinka 12Mandarin 10Cambodian 9Kinyarwanda 9Mandinka 9Portuguese 9Trukese 9Turkish 9Ukrainian 9Amharic 8Hindi 8

Kosraean 8Punjabi 8Cup'ik 7Kiswahili 7Bulgarian 6Romanian 6Afrikaans Aleut Armenian Athabascan Bosnian Burmese CantoneseChamorro Guam CherokeeChichewaCreole Czech Danish

Dena'inaDutchFijian Finnish Georgian Greek Hawaiian Hebrew Hungarian Ibo Icelandic Indonesian Italian KachinLithuanian Macedonian Malayalam Mano Marathi MarshalleseMbu

Mongolian Navajo Norwegian OwanPashtoPatois PersianPidgin PohnpeianSerbo CroatianSiberian YupikSinhalese SlovakSwedishTamil Telugu Tibetan TlingitTwi YapeseZuni

Municipality of

Anchorage

Providence Hospital System

AnchorageYWCA

Alaska Institute

for Justice

Alaska Literacy Program

Univ of Alaska

Anchorage

United Way, Kids Corps, Head Start, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium,Anchorage Neighborhood Health Clinic,

and others

• Adult students in Alaska Literacy Program (ALP)• From a variety of immigrant and refugee groups• Passion to learn and help their communities• Strong acquisition of English skills

• Phase 1 • Taught how to find reliable health info (eg, Medline Plus)• Taught how to avoid bogus health info

• Phase 2• PLNs disseminate info to their respective communities• PLNs also teach other students at ALP

• Phase 3• Become involved with community/city programs• Develop health education materials for the communities

Cohort # PLNS PLN Language

2013 – 2014 4 Amharic/Arabic; Spanish; Nepali, Wolof

2014 – 2015 4 Samoan; Russian; Korean; Arabic/Dinka

2015 – 2016 5 Spanish; Somali; Arabic; Hmong; Spanish

2016 – 2017 5 Spanish; Arabic; Neur; Korean; Nepali

2017 – 2018 5 Palau; Samoan; French; Swahili; Spanish

2018 – 2019 8 Spanish; Arabic; Dinka; Neur; French

REM: Ripple Effects Mappinghttps://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/190639

•Sharing stories about encounters

•Discovering unexpected outcomes

Effects on Communities• PLNs provide health information directly to

hundreds (300+) of individuals per year • PLNs encourage health screening, vaccines, and

f/u care for chronic health problems• PLNs participate in health fairs,

providing information as “cultural experts”

Effects on PLNs• Ability to obtain, develop, share health info• Strong relationships with their communities• Become respected experts – “go-to” people• Mentoring other PLNs

• Avoid over-commitment of PLNs• Provide compensation for PLNs• Have flexibility on PLNs’ areas of interest• Involve partner organizations

Grants• National Library of Medicine• Leonard Doak Memorial Scholarship• Providence Health SystemIn-Kind Support• Partner Organizations