DOCTOR'S REPORT
Increasing Adherence Among Hispanics:
New Insights – New
Technologies
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By. Dirk G. Schroeder, ScD, MPH
HolaDoctor
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As the exclusive digital health content provider to Univision, the largest Spanish language media company in the U.S, we at HolaDoctor Inc have identified a number of effective ways to engage Hispanics around health. These insights, combined with an enormous shift by Hispanics to digital-and mobile-based platforms for their health information needs, gives brand managers some exciting new tools to engage this population.
Hispanics: Growing Population – Growing Market
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Between 2000 and 2010, the Hispanic population accounted for nearly 50 percent of the entire population growth in the U.S. and in many states one out of every two babies born is Hispanic.1 Hispanics are retaining their language and culture at much higher rates than previous immigrants groups; over 35 million people over age five speak Spanish at home2. Effective communications and marketing to this population incorporate key cultural beliefs and values in Spanish. |
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Historically poor adherence among Hispanics, however, has frustrated brand managers and there have been many failed attempts to effectively engage this population. |
Obesity and related chronic diseases are very high and increasing among Hispanics. A recent (March 2012) report by CDC found that the diabetes prevalence among Mexican-American adults 20 to 74 years of age is now 13.7 percent, nearly double that of non-Hispanic whites.3 In many of the country’s largest states, California and Texas, over a third of all diabetics in that state are Hispanic.4
HIV and certain other chronic infectious diseases are also higher among Hispanics. In 2009, the HIV infection rate among Latinos in 2009 was nearly three times as high as that of whites (26.4 vs 9.1 per 100,000 population).
Barriers to Medication Adherence Among Hispanics
Medication adherence has traditionally been quite poor among Hispanics. We now have a better understanding of the barriers, and more importantly, the enablers of medication adherence among this population.
A recent study of adherence among HIV-positive immigrant Latinos, for example, found that key barriers to HAART adherence were: unpleasant side effects from the medications (24 percent); difficulty scheduling medical appointments (21 percent); poor communication with medical providers (18 percent); and financial burden or no insurance coverage (12 percent).5 This constellation of factors: side effects; poor access to or communications with providers and financial barriers, are commonly found among adherence research with Hispanics.
Family First
Family plays a very important role in lives of Hispanics and this is particularly true in health and medical care, including adherence. In a study of HIV-positive immigrant Latinos, family members (48 percent) and spouse (33 percent) were identified as the most influential in helping the HIV-positive patients adhere to their medications. The influence of family and spouse were significantly higher than physicians, which were only named 7 percent of the time. With Hispanics, brand managers seeking adherence need to be thinking about “family before physician”.
Engaging Hispanics Around Health
Over the past 12 years, HolaDoctor has developed tens of thousands of pages of culturally appropriate health content and conducted numerous campaigns for our pharmaceutical clients. Through this experience we have learned a couple of critical things about engaging Hispanic healthcare consumers. The most important thing we have learned is that
health communications to and with Hispanics need to be simple, inherently interesting and fun.
Boring, encyclopedic-type articles receive less than 5 percent of the traffic on our network of Spanish health portals, while our graphical “slide-shows”, culturally appropriate dietary guidance, and “health of the celebrities” sections are wildly popular. The most effective campaigns are those that use this interest in “popular health” to guide the Hispanic healthcare consumer to actionable, medical advice (e.g. screenings) or behaviors (e.g. medication adherence).
Digital Health and the Exploding Use of Mobile
Just a few years ago, there was much discussion about the “digital divide”, in which Hispanics had less access to the Internet than non-Hispanic whites. With the explosive growth in mobile technologies among Hispanics this digital divide is history. In fact, the Pew Research Group asked “have you used your mobile device to search for health information?”, over 25 percent of Hispanics indicated they had, compared to just 15 percent of non-Hispanic whites. Hispanics are also more receptive to receiving text messages from healthcare companies.
So, how can marketer or brand manager effectively turn these new insights and the digital transition by Hispanics to their advantage? First, find a Spanish speaking colleague and take a look at what’s working by going to health channels, including the one we maintain for
Univision. If you are looking to add mobile to your marketing mix, take a look at the white paper co-authored with 3cInteractive on
Improving the Health of Hispanics Using Mobile Technology: A Roadmap to Reach and Impact America’s Fastest Growing Population. This paper will give you a detailed guide to designing and implementing an effective adherence strategy aimed at this increasingly important demographic.
For more information, please visit
www.holadoctor.net
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1
U.S. Census 2011
2 American Community Survey, 2010
3 Frayer et al, 2012.
4 Schroeder DG. Unpublished HolaDoctor analysis available upon request.
5 Vissman AT. Applying the theory of planned behavior to explore HAART adherence
among HIV-positive immigrant Latinos: Elicitation interview results. Patient education
and Counseling 2011;85:454-460.
6 Pew, 2010.
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McKesson Patient Relationship Solutions is a unique division of McKesson Corporation created specifically to help pharmaceutical manufacturers build and expand their relationships with patients. Our core competency is delivering market leading acquisition and adherence solutions such as co-pay discounts, free trial offers, behavioral coaching, contact center services and pharmacy outreach.
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