Department of Media Studies, Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA.
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA.
J Rural Health. 2021 Jun;37(3):537-544. doi: 10.1111/jrh.12561. Epub 2021 Mar 5.
Because rural residents, particularly those near mining sites, are susceptible to numerous environmental health hazards, it is important to gain deeper insights into their use and trust of health information, which they may employ to help recognize symptoms, learn ways to reduce exposure, or find health care.
We surveyed residents (N = 101) of rural Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia to assess predictors of health information source use and trust. A project manager administered face-to-face paper and pencil questionnaires assessing demographics, health status, smoking behavior, and health information use and source trust. Bivariate correlations and ordinary least squares regressions were used to analyze the data.
The data suggest that rural individuals frequently use nurses, doctors, and websites to seek health information, whereas traditional media are often not their preferred channel for health information. Media sources were not found as trustworthy as interpersonal and medical health information sources. While only 13.0% of individuals in the sample said they ever turned to county or state health departments for health information, these sources were trusted more than any media source and more than friends. Moreover, living closer to active mining sites-meaning these individuals are at a higher risk of environmental health hazards-predicted even less use of traditional media and greater trust in peer sources.
Not all sources of health information are equally used or trusted by individuals from a rural disparities population. The findings have implications for health campaign message dissemination and intervention designs targeting individuals in rural Appalachia.
由于农村居民，尤其是那些靠近矿区的居民，容易受到许多环境健康危害的影响，因此深入了解他们对健康信息的使用和信任程度非常重要，他们可能会利用这些信息来帮助识别症状、学习减少暴露的方法或寻找医疗保健。
我们调查了肯塔基州、弗吉尼亚州和西弗吉尼亚州农村的居民（N=101），以评估健康信息来源使用和信任的预测因素。项目经理通过面对面的纸笔问卷评估了人口统计学、健康状况、吸烟行为以及健康信息使用和来源信任。使用双变量相关和普通最小二乘法回归分析数据。
数据表明，农村个体经常使用护士、医生和网站来获取健康信息，而传统媒体通常不是他们获取健康信息的首选渠道。媒体来源不如人际和医疗健康信息来源可信。虽然样本中只有 13.0%的人表示他们曾经向县或州卫生部门寻求健康信息，但这些来源比任何媒体来源都更受信任，也比朋友更受信任。此外，生活在活跃矿区附近——这意味着这些人面临更高的环境健康危害风险——预测他们对传统媒体的使用更少，对同行来源的信任度更高。
并非所有健康信息来源都被农村差异人群中的个体平等使用或信任。这些发现对针对阿巴拉契亚农村地区个体的健康运动信息传播和干预设计具有启示意义。
