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Family health information sharing among older adults: reaching more family members

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Abstract

Although family health history (FHH) information has tremendous potential in the prevention of common complex diseases such as heart disease and cancer, lack of knowledge about one’s own FHH among the public hinders its utility. Older individuals often desire to contribute to the well-being of younger generations and also play critical roles in disseminating this information. This study evaluated psychosocial factors associated with the extent of FHH communication within families. Older adults (N = 110) were interviewed at three senior centers in an urban community. Multivariate Poisson regression analysis showed that respondents who received FHH from a parent reported 41 % more family members with whom they shared FHH (b = 0.34, p < 0.001) controlling for the family network size. Furthermore, one unit increase in the number of family members with whom respondents exchange reciprocal emotional support (b = 0.04, p < 0.01), perceived familiarity with own FHH (b = 0.14, p = 0.01), and self-efficacy to share FHH (b = 0.18, p = 0.02) were associated with 4, 15, and 20 % increases in the number of family members with whom respondents shared FHH, respectively. Future efforts may inform older adults about their important role in modeling FHH communication behavior to encourage information sharing in future generations while providing information about how to collect and disseminate FHH to increase their familiarity and ability to share FHH within the family.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by The University of Memphis Faculty Research Grant Fund. This support does not necessarily imply endorsement by the university of research conclusions. We would like to thank the participants for sharing their stories with us and staff members at the senior centers for facilitating data collection processes. We also would like to thank Doris Amoah, Andy Collins, and Larita Taylor for their assistance in data collection.

Conflict of interest

Sato Ashida and Ellen Schafer declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Compliance with ethics guidelines

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (5). Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

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  1. Department of Community and Behavioral Health, Aging Mind and Brain Initiative, University of Iowa College of Public Health, 145 N. Riverside Drive, N422 CPHB, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA

    Sato Ashida

  2. Department of Community and Behavioral Health, University of Iowa College of Public Health, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA

    Ellen J. Schafer

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  1. Sato Ashida
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Correspondence to Sato Ashida.

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Ashida, S., Schafer, E.J. Family health information sharing among older adults: reaching more family members. J Community Genet 6, 17–27 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12687-014-0197-x

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