Examining the Factors That Influence African Americans in the Midwest to Reduce Salt Intake.

Purpose: Salt intake is associated with cardiovascular diseases that are the leading cause of death especially among African American communities in the Midwest. Interventions need to be developed to address the culture of this population to decrease the health disparities of cardiovascular disease. This study applying the Health Belief Model aims to explore the factors that are associated with the behavior of reducing salt intake among this population. Methods: Three hundred ninety-nine African American adults participated in the telephone surveys. Logistic regression analysis was performed. Results: We found that affective risk perception in the form of concern of salt intake as well as self-efficacy were associated with the behavior of reducing salt intake among this population. However, seeing advertisement on mass media about the effect of eating too much salt and talking to anyone about heart problems or high blood pressure issues could not influence their behavior of reducing salt intake. Conclusion: This study shed light on how public health practitioners can potentially persuade African American population in Midwest to reduce salt intake through designing culturally appropriate interventions educating them about the risk of eating too much salt and increase their confidence in reducing salt in community settings.

Analyzing health organizations' use of Twitter for promoting health literacy.

This study explored health-related organizations' use of Twitter in delivering health literacy messages. A content analysis of 571 tweets from health-related organizations revealed that the organizations' tweets were often quoted or retweeted by other Twitter users. Nonprofit organizations and community groups had more tweets about health literacy than did other types of health-related organizations examined, including health business corporations, educational institutions, and government agencies. Tweets on health literacy topics focused predominantly on using simple language rather than complicated language. The results suggest that health organizations need a more strategic approach to managing positive organizational self-presentations in order to create an optimal level of exposure on social networking sites.