Introduction: Opioid crisis has disproportionately affected Alabamians with the highest opioid prescription rate, and it is subjected to affect Korean Americans (KA) negatively based on common predictors of opioid misuse that KA possess.
Method: Cross-sectional data of KA in rural Alabama (N = 230) were analyzed. Opioid literacy was assessed by the Brief Opioid Overdose Knowledge survey. Six social determinants of health factors were considered: financial status, educational attainment, English proficiency, household food insecurity, health literacy, and social contact.
Results: Participants had limited opioid literacy (M = 3.56, SD = 3.06). After adjusting for demographics and health covariates, higher levels of overall opioid literacy were associated with higher household income (B = .48, p < .01), higher levels of health literacy (B = .71, p < .01), and less frequent social contact (B = -.40, p < .01). Significant social determinants of health predictors varied across subdomains of opioid literacy.
Discussion: The findings suggest that culturally competent and community-level interventions are needed to increase opioid literacy in KA in rural Alabama.
Keywords: Korean; opioid literacy; rural; social determinants of health.