Knowledge and Behaviors Toward Hepatitis B and the Hepatitis B Vaccine in the Laotian Community in Minnesota

Abstract

Minnesota is home to a large population of immigrants from Laos as well as one of the largest disparities in hepatitis B (HBV) infection; in Minnesota, Asians are 80 times more likely to be infected than Whites. In response to community concern, a community-based participatory research project was conducted involving a cross-sectional study of 167 adult Laotian immigrants in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area assessing knowledge and behaviors related to HBV and its vaccine. Fifty-eight percent of the participants reported not knowing about HBV and just under half incorrectly reported on person-to-person transmission. As expected, vaccination and screening for HBV was more common among those who knew of HBV (p=0.02 for both). Fourteen (8.4%) of the participants had been vaccinated, however, only 2 (14.8%) of those individuals received all three doses. This study outlines gaps in knowledge and resources that could address the staggering HBV disparity in this community.

Knowledge and awareness on Hepatitis-B among paramedic and non-paramedic students in district Kanchanpur Nepal

“…Also, although the proportion was much smaller among the non-paramedics, this is comparable with the study from Bangladesh (23). These results are further compatible with other studies, where knowledge on HBV as in paramedics has been associated with increased HBV screening and vaccination (24)(25)(26), implying that knowledge dictates the behaviour in relation to HBV.…”

Illness perceptions and explanatory models of viral hepatitis B & C among immigrants and refugees: a narrative systematic review

“…Two hundred and sixty one studies were screened as potentially relevant out of which 80 full text articles were fully assessed for eligibility according to inclusion and exclusion criteria (Figure 1 ). We identified 51 relevant peer-reviewed journal articles, published in English [ 49 - 99 ] (Additional file 1 : Table S1). In our appraisal of methodological quality, most surveys (n = 20) and qualitative studies (n = 9) had 2 and 3 star ratings (out of a maximum of 4 stars) respectively (Table 2 ).…”

“…The cross-sectional survey studies (Additional file 1 : Table S2) used a variety of survey questionnaires derived from diverse theoretical models: seven were based on the constructs of Health Behaviour Framework [ 49 , 59 , 74 - 76 , 81 , 87 ]; one study [ 86 ] used Predisposing, Reinforcing and Enabling Constructs in Educational Diagnosis and Evaluation (PRECEDE) framework [ 100 ]; and six surveys used adapted questionnaires from published studies that used the Health Belief Model [ 52 , 53 , 60 , 67 , 69 , 94 ]. Other surveys (Additional file 1 : Table S3) did not clearly indicate the theoretical frameworks that influenced their choice of survey questions and used different methodologies, and focussed only on HCV, or HBV and HCV together, with none focussing only on HBV [ 54 , 57 , 62 , 63 , 66 , 71 - 73 , 77 , 80 , 82 , 84 , 85 , 88 - 90 , 93 , 97 - 99 ].…”

“…In addition, Cambodians associated HBV infection with ‘tough liver’ , ‘swollen belly’ , and ‘dysfunctional liver’ [ 50 ]. Between 23% to 83% of participants knew of transmission risk by healthy looking subjects [ 49 , 53 , 59 , 60 , 64 , 67 , 69 , 76 , 81 - 83 , 85 - 99 ], and recognised that HBV infection can be asymptomatic.…”

“…The various surveys showed that 19% to 80% of South East Asian participants knew that HBV could be sexually transmitted [ 49 , 52 , 53 , 59 , 60 , 64 , 67 , 69 - 73 , 76 , 77 , 80 - 99 ]. There were both inter- and intra-ethnic as well as regional variations in the level of this knowledge.…”