Health information needs and practices of Chinese & Vietnamese people living in Australia regarding primary liver cancer: A literature review

Abstract

A review of the research literature indicated that Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants to Australia (and the US) have a poor understanding of the risks for viral hepatitis transmission, hepatitis vaccines and treatments, and little knowledge of the relationship between hepatitis infection and risk for the development of primary liver cancer. Among these populations, access to cancer and other health-related information and knowledge of illness are low because of a range of barriers such as: •• poor English proficiency •• a dearth of culturally and linguistically specific resources and programmes •• concerns about Western medicine •• difficulties negotiating Western health systems and medical practitioners •• a preference for treating disease with folk remedies and traditional Chinese medicine, and •• a fundamental philosophical difference in illness representations.