• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
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• 제8권1호
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• pp.68-78
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• 2020

This study attempted to uncover the characteristics of health information non-seekers among the United States foreign-born population and identify potential predictors of their non-seeking behavior. The trends of foreign-born health information nonseekers over the past twelve years were also examined. Statistical analysis was conducted with two sets of Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) data: HINTS 2 (2005) and HINTS 5 Cycle 1 (2017) datasets. It was found that foreign-born nonseekers differ from foreign-born seekers in terms of a variety of variables including education, income, English proficiency, the uses of Internet and social media, ownership of digital devices, ownership of health insurance, perceived health status, and level of trust in health information sources. Among them, education, Internet use, and trust in online health information were identified as predictors of the foreign-born population's non-seeking of health information. In addition, three variables - race/ethnicity, age, and place of accessing the Internet - which were significant factors in the 2005 dataset, were no longer significant in the 2017 dataset, implying the possible influence of smartphones that reduces Internet accessibility gaps among different racial/ethnic and age groups.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제82권2호
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• pp.151-157
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• 2019

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is the most important disease screened for upon patient history review during preimmigration medical examinations as performed in South Korea in prospective immigrants to certain Western countries. In 2007, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) changed the TB screening protocol from a smear-based test to the complete Culture and Directly Observed Therapy Tuberculosis Technical Instructions (CDOT TB TI) for reducing the incidence of TB in foreign-born immigrants. Methods: This study evaluated the effect of the revised (as compared with the old) protocol in South Korea. Results: Of the 40,558 visa applicants, 365 exhibited chest radiographic results suggestive of active or inactive TB, and 351 underwent sputum tests (acid-fast bacilli smear and Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture). To this end, using the CDOT TB TI, 36 subjects (88.8 per $10^5$ of the population) were found to have TB, compared with only seven using the older U.S. CDC technical instruction (TI) (p<0.001). In addition, there were six drug-resistant cases which were identified (16.7 per $10^5$ of the population), two of whom had multidrug-resistance (5.6 per $10^5$ of the population). Conclusion: The culture-based 2007 TI identified a great deal of TB cases current to the individuals tested, as compared to older U.S. CDC TI.