Source

Department of Health, Behavior & Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA. Electronic address: hjuon@jhsph.edu.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a hepatitis B virus (HBV) educational program in increasing HBV knowledge.

METHODS:

Using a cluster randomized control trial to recruit participants from the community-based organization in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area; a total of 877 Asian American participants completed a self-administered pretest. HBV knowledge was the outcome measure. The intervention group received a 30-minute educational program. After the educational program, the intervention group completed a post-education survey. Six months after the education, all participants were followed by phone.

RESULTS:

The intervention group showed significantly higher knowledge scores than the control group at the 6-month follow-up (between-group difference was 1.44 for knowledge of transmission modes and 0.59 for sequelae, p<0.01). For the intervention group, the increase in knowledge of HBV transmission modes in post-education was much higher than that at the 6-month follow-up (4.18 vs. 2.07), p<0.01) compared to baseline. Age was also an important factor on the educational effect: Those older than 60years reported the lowest scores in all three points.

CONCLUSIONS:

Findings suggest that this culturally integrated liver cancer educational program increased HBV knowledge. Differential strategies are needed to target age groups, separately educating those younger and those older.