Sligo, F.X. and Anna M. Jameson (2000).  The knowledge-behavior gap in use of health information.  Journal of the American Society for Information Science 51(9), 858-869.  doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(2000)51:9<858::AID-ASI80>3.0.CO;2-Q.

This article summarizes a study conducted by F. X. Sligo and Anna M. Jameson to ascertain how Pacific Island women in New Zealand obtained and relayed information on screening for cervical cancer, barriers in communicating this information, and how access to information might be improved.  Sligo and Jameson’s study is based upon the theory of the knowledge gap, in which the growth of mass media information in an environment results in individuals with greater socioeconomic status acquiring information faster than those of a lower socioeconomic status.  Additionally, Sligo and Jameson take the perspective that what information is accessed depends on the sociocultural conceptualization of the information source and need (including those related to health), and this explains the knowledge-behavior gap, in which individuals fail to apply knowledge derived from information to their own behavior.  The insider-outsider dichotomy plays a role in this as well, with information originating from outsiders being discounted by groups of insiders.

The study itself, consisting of 20 semi-structured interviews with Pacific women from Palmerston North, New Zealand, confirmed the theoretical assumptions.  A major constraint on Pacific women’s accessing information on cervical cancer screening, which was available, was the taboo nature of discussing sex and female reproductive organs.  What information they did receive came from cultural meetings.  Churches were considered a possible means for disseminating information by the interviewees, but their conservative values also reinforced the taboo.  Information sources that cast cervical screening as a “Pacific problem” made the participants disinclined to apply the contained information, as they were resentful of Pacific Islanders being depicted as a “problem” population.  Interestingly, while Pacific women preferred to receive information on cervical screening from their culture via interpersonal communication, they desired that the actual screening be conducted by non-Pacific health specialists.  The tight-knit Pacific community’s need to share information raised concerns of privacy should a Pacific health specialist conduct the test.

In conclusion, Sligo and Jameson argue that a) cervical screening information must be disseminated by Pacific “insiders” and opinion-leaders, legitimizing the access of said information; b) churches should be leveraged to this end, but carefully; and c) non-Pacific Islanders must conduct the screening, because the need for social approval to acquire information becomes displaced by the need for privacy when applying knowledge to behavior.