Empower women: examining the feasibility of using a 360° digital-first magazine as a health teaching and knowledge translation tool for millennial women

Worldwide, women experience inequities in health due to unfair relations of power and control over their lives (Women and Gender Equity Knowledge Network, 2007). This is especially true in the area of women’s health (Husoy-Onarheim, Iversen, & Bloom, 2016; Perry, 2012). As healthcare shifts to a health promotion model, women are being empowered through the facilitation of health literacy and informed decision-making (Wuest, Merritt-Gray, Berman, & Ford-Gilboe, 2002; Leaffer & Mickelberg, 2006). In recent years, digital media has become one of the primary ways millennial women access health information (Allison, et al., 2012). Yet there are limited resources that are accurate, engaging and easy to understand (Allison, et al., 2012; Calvillo, Roman, & Roa, 2013). This project examined the feasibility of using a digital magazine as a health teaching and knowledge translation tool for millennial Canadian women. The result of this project was a pilot 360° magazine experience designed to engage millennial women in discussions about taboo health topics.