The project addresses an important health need, Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Infections (STTD/I) health education for low-literate migrants, an underserved population with limited access and large barriers to accessing health education materials. The """"""""Talking Fotonovela develops a new media format that adds audio to the fotonovela;a comic book format that has proven effective in providing health information to migrant populations. The product is designed to be used individually by migrants, as well as in group settings with health educators or lay health advisors. The product will be multilingual (Spanish, English and Mixtec). Mixtec is one of many mostly unwritten languages of indigenous Mexican and Central American migrants. The Mixtecs are one of the largest and most organized of the indigenous Mexican groups in the United States. This product will fill a need for clinics and community groups providing STD/I prevention education and migrant health promotion with low-literate groups. To assess the feasibility of the proposed Talking Fotonovela, we will need to answer the following technical questions: 1) what kinds of audio technologies are used by migrant populations? 2) How will the sensitive nature of the topic (STDs) and potential privacy concerns affect the audio component? 3) What is the most appropriate audio technology to use to reach this population with a talking book? 4) What is the best way to make the Talking Fotonovela accessible to indigenous language speakers? To do this, we begin by reviewing existing audio technologies and selecting likely candidates. The next step is to undertake audience research about technology use. Building on this use, the project team will develop an audio product to be combined with an adaptation of an existing CDC sponsored fotonovela that uses evidence-based models from CDC's Division of Effective Behavioral Innovations to promote condom use and risky behavior avoidance. Feedback from additional audience research testing a prototype product for usability and comprehension will be incorporated in the final design.
The research undertaken for this project will address an important health need -- health education materials on STD/I for low literate migrants. The audience research is designed to find innovative ways to bring technology to bear on barriers to communicating health messages to low-literate populations with limited technological experience. The project also addresses issues of providing health education audiovisual materials to groups lacking written language.
