Consumer Health Web Sites Research Articles

Planning, Design, Equipment, and Software

Consumer Health Information [CHI]-the term can mean many things to many people and it can take many forms. Health information in layman's terms can be found in brochures, books, journals, videos, television programs, news reports and, of course, through the Internet. Current estimates differ widely as to the number of health-related sites on the Web. A November 1999 article in the British Medical Journalestimates that there are approximately 100,000 health-related sites in existence.1 Health resources come in many forms and the technology and design of those sites can be just as varied. When viewed as an architectural structure, certain correlations can be drawn between the construction of a home and the building of a Web site. It can take a tremendous amount of effort and planning to build both. The following article describes the design process and technology behind the Arkansas Consumer Health Information Network's consumer health Web site, ARHealthLINK http://www.arhealthlink.org

Quality Assurance in eHealth for Consumers

As millions of consumers turn to the Internet for health information, it is imperative that consumer health librarians teach them the skills needed to find trustworthy health information. This article examines important quality criteria for consumer health Web sites and reviews some top health Web sites that demonstrate quality.

HealthyNJ: Information for Healthy Living

ABSTRACT The development and implementation of an integrated statewide consumer health Web site, HealthyNJ, is described. The paper outlines an approach to delivering an easily navigable, objective Website for use by librarians and consumers throughout the state. HealthyNJ links to critically reviewed health information on the Internet. HealthyNJ does not create original content, but aggregates sites from around the world. Librarians maintain the HealthyNJ Web site. The site has grown to include 250 topics. Spanish language content has been recently incorporated. The collaboration among statewide partners, public, association, and corporate, provides funding support and insight and access to multi-type libraries and their constituents throughout the state.

The Perpetually Sick Self

The Perpetually Sick Self

The Nurse's guide to consumer health Web sites

The Nurse's guide to consumer health Web sites

Evaluating metrics for comparing the use of web sites: a case study of two consumer health web sites

Evaluating metrics for comparing the use of web sites: a case study of two consumer health web sites

Evaluating metrics for comparing the use of web sites: a case study of two consumer health web sites

Use is plainly an important characteristic in determining the success or otherwise of a web site and in making comparisons between sites. The source of most use data are the web logs that record user activity on a real-time and continuous basis. There is much demand from sponsors, site owners and marketing departments for this information. The authors examine the kinds of comparison that can be made, the performance of the respective metrics in comparing two sites - something that is still relatively rare - and discuss the methodological problems associated with making such comparisons. Two consumer health sites - NHS Direct Online and SurgeryDoor - are compared. Data were collected for the month of November 2000. During this period the two sites were visited by more than 60,000 people who recorded more than 1 million page views. The paper shows that the most widely used and heralded metric of use, page views (impressions) is heavily dependent on site architecture and this causes difficulties in comparing the performance of sites.

Consumer Health Websites

Consumer Health Websites

Digital health information provision and health outcomes

An online questionnaire survey of more than 1,000 users of a consumer health website, SurgeryDoor, was conducted, which sought to discover why the site was consulted and whether the information obtained from it had any health outcome. The majority of respondents were women and middle aged. Doctors were the first port of call for information, but 50% of respondents cited the Internet as one of their top three information sources. Most people did not come to the site with a particular illness or medical condition. Two-thirds of users said that the information found had ‘helped a lot’ in being better informed. Just under half felt that the information they found had helped in their dealings with the doctor, while just over half felt that information found had changed the way they felt about their condition. More importantly, over one-third of respondents said that their condition had improved after having visited the site and more than one in four said that Web information had resulted in a deferred visit or had actually replaced a visit to the doctor.

Networking health: prescriptions for the Internet

Consumer health websites have garnered considerable media attention, but only begin to scratch the surface of the more pervasive transformations the Internet could bring to health and health care. Networking Health examines ways in which the Internet may become a routine part of health care delivery and payment, public health, health education, and biomedical research. Building upon a series of site visits, this book: * Weighs the role of the Internet versus private networks in uses ranging from the transfer of medical images to providing video-based medical consultations at a distance. * Reviews technical challenges in the areas of quality of service, security, reliability, and access, and looks at the potential utility of the next generation of online technologies. * Discusses ways health care organizations can use the Internet to support their strategic interests and explores barriers to a broader deployment of the Internet. * Recommends steps that private and public sector entities can take to enhance the capabilities of the Internet for health purposes and to prepare health care organizations to adopt new Internet-based applications.

Etiology of Blindness

Focusing on one area of medical concern, blindness, this article serves as a guide for print and electronic resources emphasizing the causes, signs, symptoms, treatment, prognosis, and prevention of specific eye diseases and disorders. Following a bibliography format, the selected resources include: (1) medical dictionaries, (2) medical and consumer health print resources, (3) medical journals, (4) brochures, (5) professional organizations, and (6) Web sites. This paper concludes with the abbreviated definitions of the predominant eye diseases leading to visual impairment and blindness.