Hepatitis B ESL Education Curriculum for Chinese Immigrants

The Hepatitis B Educational ESL Curriculum provides Hepatitis B awareness curriculum to the immigrant Chinese population.

The curriculum presents information about the disease and raises awareness of preventative measures. The health education curriculum is designed for low to intermediate English level English as a second language (ESL) students that would increase knowledge about Hepatitis B and encourage them to get Hepatitis B testing.

Certified ESL teachers are trained in the Hepatitis B curriculum. The Hepatitis B curriculum provides information on the high rate of Hepatitis B viral infection in Chinese communities, how the virus is transmitted from person to person, and the symptoms of infection. The curriculum uses standard ESL teaching strategies, such as filling in the blanks and working in pairs. For example, a pair of students takes turns reading, speaking, listening, and writing their respective worksheets that were missing certain vocabulary words. Once the blanks are filled in, the students answer reading comprehension questions. The curriculum ended with a pamphlet in both Chinese and English about the key points from the lesson.

To educate the Chinese Canadian immigrant community on Hepatitis B knowledge and to promote Hepatitis B testing through ESL curriculum.

The Chinese immigrant population in North America has a rate of Hepatitis B infection that is 10 times higher than the general population's rate of approximately 0.5 percent. The Hepatitis B ESL curriculum is effective in increasing knowledge about Hepatitis B among Chinese immigrants in Canada.

The Hepatitis B Educational ESL Curriculum has been shown to significantly increase knowledge about Hepatitis B infection and transmission in Chinese immigrants. To evaluate the effectiveness of the program, a group-randomized trial study was conducted. 41 ESL classes from five community-based organizations that provided the ESL classes in the greater Vancouver area participated in the study. ESL students who participated in the study were randomly assigned to receive either the experimental Hepatitis B curriculum or a control curriculum on physical activity. After six months, the students were asked to complete a follow-up survey that tested their knowledge of particular Hepatitis B infection and transmission facts that were discussed in the experimental curriculum. This data was then analyzed through generalized estimating equations to assess the effectiveness of the curriculum in teaching the Chinese immigrants about Hepatitis B. In total, 325 students were initially enrolled in the study, and 298 (92%) of the students were able to complete the follow-up survey. The follow-up survey demonstrated that experimental group students were statistically significantly (p<0.05) more likely than control group students to know that Chinese immigrants have higher rates of Hepatitis B infection than Chinese people born in Canada [OR=2.0, CI: (1.2-3.5)]; Hepatitis B can be transmitted through childbirth [OR=1.8, CI: (0.9-3.4)], sexual intercourse [OR=2.1, CI: (1.2-3.6)], and sharing of razors [OR=9.4, CI: (3.1-28.6)]; Hepatitis B cannot be spread through sharing of utensils [OR=4.4, CI: 2.4-8.2)]; and Hepatitis B can cause cirrhosis [OR=2.9, CI: 1.2-7.0)] and liver cancer [OR=3.1, CI: (1.3-7.1)].