Comparing communication technology on Chinese, English, and Spanish diabetes web sites.

Authors

Yanko F Michea, School of Health Information Sciences, The University of Texas, Houston, TX, USA.
Karen Pancheri, School of Health Information Sciences, The University of Texas, Houston, TX, USA.
Yang Gong, School of Health Information Sciences, The University of Texas, Houston, TX, USA.
Elmer Bernstam, School of Health Information Sciences, The University of Texas, Houston, TX, USA.

Publication Date

1-1-2002

Journal

Proc AMIA Symp. 2002; 523–527.

Abstract

Technological and cultural factors influence access to health information on the web in multifarious ways. We evaluated structural differences and availability of communication services on the web in three diverse language and cultural groups: Chinese, English, and Spanish. A total of 382 web sites were analyzed: 144 were English language sites (38%), 129 were Chinese language sites (34%), and 108 were Spanish language sites (28%). We did not find technical differences in the number of outgoing links per domain or the total availability of communication services between the three groups. There were differences in the distribution of available services between Chinese and English sites. In the Chinese sites, there were more communication services between consumers and health experts. Our results suggest that the health-related web presence of these three cultural groups is technologically comparable, but reflects differences that may be attributable to cultural factors.

Keywords

Analysis of Variance, Communication, Diabetes Mellitus, Humans, Internet, Language

Comments

PMCID: PMC2244504