Poster Presentation Australian and New Zealand Obesity Society Annual Scientific Conference 2023

Resources used and trusted regarding child health information by culturally and linguistically diverse communities in Australia: an online cross-sectional survey (#216)

Danielle Jawad 1 2 3 , Sarah Taki 1 2 3 , Louise Baur 1 3 4 , Chris Rissel 5 , Seema Mihrshahi 6 , Li Ming Wen 1 2 3
  1. Sydney School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia
  2. Health Promotion Unit, Population Health Research & Evaluation Hub, Sydney Local Health District, Sydney , NSW, Australia
  3. 3Centre of Research Excellence in Translating Early Prevention of Obesity in Childhood (EPOCH-Translate CRE), Sydney, NSW, Australia
  4. Specialty of Child and Adolescent Health, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  5. College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Rural and Remote Health SA and NT, Darwin, Australia
  6. Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Background

Parents’ play a role in seeking health information to ensure optimal growth and development for their children. To date, very little is known about the differences between information seeking behaviour for child health and engagement with resources between culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) and non-CALD parents.

 

Aim

To investigate the differences in resources used and trusted for information related to child health behaviours among CALD and non-CALD respondents in Australia.

 

Methods

 

An analysis of an online cross-sectional survey was conducted using data from 122 CALD and 399 non-CALD parents who had a child younger than 24 months or were currently pregnant in Australia. To compare the differences, descriptive statistics and chi-squared were used, and logistic regression models were used to identify factors associated with using health resources.

 

Results

 

The most trusted sources for information reported by respondents were health professionals (76.2%), websites run by health professionals (59.5%), and government websites (53.2%). Social media was significantly more trusted as a source of information for child health behaviours among CALD respondents than non-CALD respondents (odds ratio (OR) 1.92, P=0.01). In contrast, booklets/ pamphlets and friends were significantly more trusted by non-CALD parents than for CALD parents (OR 0.54, P=0.02). General search engines were used very frequently among CALD respondents for child health information (39.3% vs 24.1%, p=0.013). Overall, the most common features respondents enjoyed on websites were images (81%), videos (40.1%), and discussion forums (39.9%). 

 

 

Conclusions

 

Despite parents’ reporting health professionals, websites run by health professionals, and government websites as trustworthy, general search engines and social media were still the most frequently used information source for parents with young children. Credible resources parents deemed as trustworthy should take into account effective and engaging means of disseminating information that are accessible to both all communities.