Promoting access to health information A method to support older African Americans with diabetes Charles R. Senteio Department of Library and Information Science, Rutgers University New Brunswick, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA Abstract Purpose – Describe the design of a health information and technology educational intervention that promotes health information sharing and technology use for older adult African Americans to support access to health information. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach – The study team developed a novel method to design the intervention. It drew upon three approaches: intergenerational technology transfer, participatory design and community- based participatory research. Findings – Older adult African Americans (55+) with diabetes and young adults (18–54) connected to them via familial or naturally occurring social networks designed the intervention, which was conducted in the two study sites in Michigan, USA. In total, 29 participants helped design the intervention. Four themes emerged concerning factors that promote intergenerational information exchange in the context of technology and health. First, focus on one technology skill. Second, working together in small groups is preferred. Third, patience is essential. Last, physical capabilities (i.e., eyesight, operating on relatively small screens) and literacy levels should be considered. Originality/value – This novel method of having participants from the sample population select the health information materials and technology exercises serves as a guide for implementing health information and education interventions aimed at technology use to support self-management for vulnerable patient populations. Keywords Diabetes, Health information, Health disparities, Health inequity, Older adult technology use, Technology for self-management Paper type Research paper Introduction Barriers to health information contribute to inequity in social connectivity and health literacy ( Jeong and Kim, 2016; Wyatt et al., 2005), which is “the ability to obtain, process, understand, and communicate basic health information needed to make informed health care decisions” (Berkman et al., 2010). Various other factors, such as poverty, education, race/ethnicity and disabilities influence levels of health literacy. Specifically, low socioeconomic status and advanced age are associated with low health literacy. Causal connections have been described between low socioeconomic status and low health literacy (Knighton et al., 2017). Also, adults age 65 or older have lower health literacy than individuals under the age of 65 (Kutner and Zhang, 2013). For example, Gazmararian et al. (2003) found 36 percent of older adults had marginal or inadequate health literacy skills and Kirk et al. (2012) found that two-thirds of older adults with diabetes had low or inadequate health literacy. Older adults with less than a high school diploma or equivalent level of education score significantly lower on health literacy scales than those with higher levels of education (Kirk et al., 2012). Furthermore, low-resourced adults of all ages have lower health literacy (Kutner and Zhang, 2013). African Americans disproportionally have low health literacy levels, since African Americans in low-income urban communities experience social and technical barriers to health information (Kutner and Zhang, 2013; Osborn et al., 2013). Aslib Journal of Information Management Vol. 71 No. 6, 2019 pp. 806-820 © Emerald Publishing Limited 2050-3806 DOI 10.1108/AJIM-02-2019-0043 Received 15 February 2019 Revised 22 May 2019 3 June 2019 13 June 2019 Accepted 2 July 2019 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/2050-3806.htm 806 AJIM 71,6