%0 Journal Article
%@ 1438-8871
%I Gunther Eysenbach
%V 6
%N 3
%P e26
%T Online Health Information and Low-Literacy African Americans
%A Birru,Mehret S
%A Steinman,Richard A
%+ University of Pittsburgh, 5117 Centre Avenue, Suite 2.18 Hillman Cancer Center, Pittsburgh PA 15213, USA, +1 412 623 3237, steinman@pitt.edu
%K Health
%K literacy
%K socioeconomic status (SES)
%K African Americans
%K Internet
%K comprehension
%K health behavior
%D 2004
%7 3.9.2004
%9 Viewpoint
%J J Med Internet Res
%G English
%X  African Americans with low incomes and low literacy levels disproportionately suffer poor health outcomes from many preventable diseases. Low functional literacy and low health literacy impede millions of Americans from successfully accessing health information. These problems are compounded for African Americans by cultural insensitivity in health materials. The Internet could become a useful tool for providing accessible health information to low-literacy and low-income African Americans. Optimal health Web sites should include text written at low reading levels and appropriate cultural references.  More research is needed to determine how African Americans with low literacy skills access, evaluate, prioritize, and value health information on the Internet. 
%M 15471752
%R 10.2196/jmir.6.3.e26
%U http://www.jmir.org/2004/3/e26/
%U https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.6.3.e26
%U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15471752