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Background: Internet-based applications are potentially useful and effective interventions to reach and support adolescents with mental health problems. Adolescents' commitment to the use of a new Internet-based intervention is closely related to the support they receive from healthcare professionals. This study describes nurses' experiences of the use of an Internet-based support system for adolescents with depressive disorders.Method: Qualitative descriptive study design including individual interviews with nine nurses at two psychiatric outpatient clinics. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used as the theoretical background of the study.Results: Nurses described several benefits of using the Internet-based support system in the care of adolescents with depressive disorders if the nurses integrate it into daily nursing practices. As perceived disadvantages the nurses thought that an adolescent's mental status might be a barrier to working with the support system. Perceived enablers could be organizational support, nurses' attitudes, and technology-related factors. Nurses' attitudes were identified as a barrier to supporting adolescents' use of the Internet-based support system.Conclusion: The findings suggest that the implementation plan and support from the organization, including that from nurse managers, are crucial in the process of implementing a technology-based support system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: E-mental health interventions can have a positive impact on patient-reported and clinical outcomes. The purpose of this project was to develop a user-centered e-mental health portal.Methods: The development of the portal www.psychenet.de included mixed-methods techniques for needs assessment to identify user-relevant content. Furthermore, user-centered design techniques were applied by utilizing individual usability testing with cognitive task analysis. First, a basic version of the portal was created and introduced to the public by means of a media campaign. After the development of module-specific content, exposure and use of the portal was investigated as part of a process evaluation.Results: Relevant content identified by needs assessment covered both, overarching and diagnosis-specific topics. Results of the process evaluation showed a highly accessed website. During the first 18 months, 119,423 visits were tracked. The portal was predominantly accessed by Google searches (73.9%), while 17.6% of visits were related to direct traffic.Discussion: Serving as a complement to face-to-face consultations, www.psychenet.de attempts to inform about mental disorders, and engage patients in the course of their treatment. Results of the process evaluation confirm the high relevance and potential of the portal and can be used for further improvements and extensions in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The overall goal of this study was to produce a user-friendly and high quality Internet-based patient education program for adolescents with psychosis. To achieve this, we ascertained the adolescents' and health care professionals' needs and expectations of patient education using Internet and the improvement proposals for an existing MentalNet program originally developed for adults with schizophrenia.Methods: The research process was conducted in two phases. First, adolescents' and healthcare professionals' needs for patient education and Internet were ascertained by interviewing adolescents and in two educational sessions with staff members (Phase I). Second, the preliminary evaluation of the Internet-based patient education program MentalNet was gathered from adolescents by an iterative process (see cyclic, recurring, repeating method), in one educational session with staff members and a questionnaire via email from other health care professionals (Phase II).Results: The needs and expectations of adolescents and health care professionals were related to the content, usability, design and realization of Internet-based patient education. Based on the information obtained the MentalNet program was modified to satisfy adolescents' needs.Discussion: The usefulness and effectiveness of the program will require scrutiny in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: In this paper, we present ProstateAnalyzer, a new web-based medical tool for prostate cancer diagnosis. ProstateAnalyzer allows the visualization and analysis of magnetic resonance images (MRI) in a single framework. Methods: ProstateAnalyzer recovers the data from a PACS server and displays all the associated MRI images in the same framework, usually consisting of 3D T2-weighted imaging for anatomy, dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI for perfusion, diffusion-weighted imaging in the form of an apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) map and MR Spectroscopy. ProstateAnalyzer allows annotating regions of interest in a sequence and propagates them to the others. Results: From a representative case, the results using the four visualization platforms are fully detailed, showing the interaction among them. The tool has been implemented as a Java-based applet application to facilitate the portability of the tool to the different computer architectures and software and allowing the possibility to work remotely via the web. Conclusion: ProstateAnalyzer enables experts to manage prostate cancer patient data set more efficiently. The tool allows delineating annotations by experts and displays all the required information for use in diagnosis. According to the current European Society of Urogenital Radiology guidelines, it also includes the PI-RADS structured reporting scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, Internet-delivered treatments have been largely used for pain monitoring, offering healthcare professionals and patients the ability to interact anywhere and at any time. Electronic diaries have been increasingly adopted as the preferred methodology to collect data related to pain intensity and symptoms, replacing traditional pen-and-paper diaries. This article presents a multisensor data fusion methodology based on the capabilities provided by aerospace systems to evaluate the effects of electronic and pen-and-paper diaries on pain. We examined English-language studies of randomized controlled trials that use computerized systems and the Internet to collect data about chronic pain complaints. These studies were obtained from three data sources: BioMed Central, PubMed Central and ScienceDirect from the year 2000 until 30 June 2012. Based on comparisons of the reported pain intensity collected during pre- and post-treatment in both the control and intervention groups, the proposed multisensor data fusion model revealed that the benefits of technology and pen-and-paper are qualitatively equivalent . We conclude that the proposed model is suitable, intelligible, easy to implement, time efficient and resource efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to describe the use of an Internet delivered question and answer column among patients with schizophrenia. The column was developed for research purposes. The study sample consisted of patients ( N = 100) admitted to acute inpatient psychiatric care in two hospital districts. Descriptive data were collected from the column to which a nurse replied within 3 days and analysed using qualitative content analysis. The column had four to five questions weekly. The most common age of users was 18-24 years, and the gender distribution was almost equal. Column use was heaviest among students (44%) and least among unemployed people (19%). Out of 85 questions or comments sent to the column, 25 (29%) were related to program training and the remaining 60 (71%) were related to medication (31%), illness and tests (25%), other questions or comments (9%), daily life and coping with it (4%), and places to receive treatment (2%). An Internet delivered question and answer column can be included in the care of patients with schizophrenia. However, it requires a new type of basic and additional education in the field of mental health care in order for nurses to be able to provide nursing via the Internet forum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Families living with mental illness can experience added burden and eventually own ill health. National and international guidelines support the development of web based solutions to cost-effectively address health care needs. Mapping patterns of internet use may help tailor interventions to effectively address users' needs. Aim: The study's aim was to explore the contents of relatives' and friends' queries on a psychologists' website with professional feedback. Methods: All visible questions [ n = 59] classified under the website's 'helping a relative/friend' category between 20 090 615-20 130 927 were printed out and analyzed using content analysis. Results: The analysis resulted in four categories and subcategories illuminating families'/friends' areas of concern: support to help; concerns with health care; young children's welfare; and repercussions on own health. Conclusions: 'Question & Answer' [Q&A] forums can shed light onto health seekers' online behavior and may be a way of addressing families' needs of support and information. Further studies are needed to assess the replies' therapeutic value for their recipients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A decline of cognitive abilities is a part of normal human ageing. However, recent research has demonstrated that an enriched environment can have a beneficial impact on cognitive function in old age. Accordingly, mentally and socially active lifestyles are associated with less cognitive decline in old age. Specific interventions such as computerized cognitive training programs for older adults are also known to have a positive effect on the level of cognitive functioning. Therefore, online platforms combining cognitive training with web 2.0 features may yield multiple benefits for older users. However, to date only little research exists on technological acceptance and media use in this age-group especially for cognitively-impaired seniors. Therefore, in order to assess specific preferences and potential barriers of older adults regarding a web-based platform for cognitive training, we conducted qualitative interviews with 12 older adults. Half of the participants were diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Most importantly, our results show that cognitive exercises should incorporate themes and topics older adults are interested in. Additional communication features could serve as ideal methods for increasing user motivation. Furthermore, we derived eight critical requirements of older adults concerning daily use of a web-based cognitive training platform. Implications for future research and development are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the number of elderly people rises, relatives' care-taking responsibilities increase accordingly. This creates a need for developing new systems that enable relatives to keep track of aged family members. To develop new mobile services for elderly healthcare we tried to identify the most wanted features of a mobile user-interface from the perspective of relatives. Feature mapping was based on two online surveys: one administered to the relatives ( N = 32) and nurses ( N = 3) of senior citizens and the other to nursing students ( N = 18). Results of the surveys, confirmed by face-to-face interviews of the relatives ( N = 8), indicated that the most valued features of the mobile user-interface are Accident Reporting (e.g. falling), Alarms (e.g. fire-alarm), Doctor Visits and evaluation of the General Condition of the Senior. The averaged importance ratings of these features were 9.2, 9.0, 8.6 and 8.5, respectively (on a scale from 0 to 10). Other important considerations for the user-interface development are aspiration to simplicity and ease-of-use. We recommend that the results are taken into account, when designing and implementing mobile services for elderly healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Camoni.co.il, a Hebrew-language social health network offers advice, consultation, and connection to others with chronic illness. This study compared characteristics and objectives of Camoni.co.il users and individuals seeking medical information through general Internet sites. Methods: Similar questionnaires were sent to 1009 Internet and 900 Camoni users. Cluster analysis defined four modes of online social health network use: 'acquiring information and support', 'communicating', 'networking' and 'browsing'. Results: Six hundred and five Internet and 125 Camoni users responded. Diabetes, hypertension, obesity and lung diseases were found more often among general Internet users than Camoni users. Among Camoni users, 'acquiring information and support' was the main motivation for individuals over age 55 years, women, those with lower income, chronic pain, obesity and depression. 'Communicating' was the main incentive of men, those 20-34 years old, those with less education, or an eating disorder. 'Networking' was the most significant motivation for those with multiple sclerosis or depression. Browsing was most frequent among individuals with multiple sclerosis. Conclusions: Identifying needs of social health network surfers will allow planning unique contents and enhancing social health sites. Physicians might advise patients to use them to obtain support and information regarding their conditions, possibly leading to improved compliance and self-management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Consumer health informatics (CHI) is an emerging field that utilizes technology to provide health information to enhance health-care decision making by the public. There is, however, no widely accepted or uniform definition of CHI. A consensus definition would be important for pedagogical reasons, to build capacity and to reduce confusion about what the discipline consists of. Aim: We undertook a systematic review of published definitions of CHI and evaluated them using five quality assessment criteria and measures of similarity. Methods: Five databases were searched (Embase, Web of Science, MEDLINE, CINAHL and Business Source Complete) resulting in 1101 citations. Twenty-three studies met the inclusion criteria. Definitions were appraised using five criteria (with each scoring out of one): use of published citation, multi-disciplinarity, journal impact, definition comprehensibility, text readability. Results: Most definitions scored low on citation (Mean ± SD: 0.22 ± 0.42), multi-disciplinarity (0.15 ± 0.28) and readability (0.04 ± 0.21) and somewhat higher on IF (0.35 ± 0.45) and definition comprehensibility (idea density) (0.87 ± 0.34) criteria. Overall, the quality of the published definitions was low 1.63 ± 0.80 (out of five). Conclusions: The definitions of CHI were variable in terms of the quality assessment criteria. This suggests the need for continued discussion amongst consumer health informaticians to develop a clear consensus definition about CHI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives: The aim was to explore how a participatory design (PD) approach involving adult patients and parents of children with disabilities could contribute to the development of an electronic 'Individual Care Plan' (e-ICP) in Norway. The system was intended to simplify multi-disciplinary cross-sector documentation and collaboration between care professionals and patients in care planning. Methods: The data in the study comprised semi-structured interviews with patients and parents, as well as field notes. Systematic text condensation (STC) in a stepwise analysis model was performed on the data. Results: Testing through three phases resulted in system improvements and additional functionality according to the participating patients' needs and requests. PD was initially applied, enabling a constructive dialogue between developers and patients. System training and collecting patient expectations was a preliminary task. Patients then brought testing experiences to the system developers, focusing first on access to information and document filing. Later, finalizing testing towards a tool for interaction with care professionals was a main concern. Conclusion: Adult patients and parents participating in the study provided various insights and expectations that informed system improvements and resulted in new functionality. System development and testing in healthcare can successfully incorporate patient involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today's registration of newborns with congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) infection is still performed on paper-based forms in Flanders, Belgium. This process has a large administrative impact. It is important that all screening tests are registered to have a complete idea of the impact of cCMV. Although these registrations are usable in computerised data analysis, these data are not available in a format to perform electronic processing. An online Neonatal Registry (NEOREG) System was designed and developed to access, follow and analyse the data of newborns remotely. It allows remote access and monitoring by the physician. The Java Enterprise layered application provides patients' diagnostic registration and treatment follow-up through a web interface and uses document forms in Portable Document Format (PDF), which incorporate all the elements from the existing forms. Forms are automatically processed to structured EHRs. Modules are included to perform statistical analysis. The design was driven by extendibility, security and usability requirements. The website load time, throughput and execution time of data analysis were evaluated in detail. The NEOREG system is able to replace the existing paper-based CMV records. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Internet has become a major source of health information for the general public and has the potential to influence health behaviours; however, most people lack the knowledge and skills to use it insightfully. This paper reports on the evaluation of a community education program, in which a team of clinicians and consumer representatives from a large metropolitan hospital partnered with a major public library to provide free interactive workshops for the general public. The aim of the workshops was to improve participants' ability to find and use evidence-based health information on the Internet. The aim of the evaluation reported here was to study participation in and impact of these workshops. Researchers administered pre- and post-workshop surveys to 89 members of the general public who participated in a workshop. This study found not only similarities in participants' pre-workshop use of online health information compared with population-level studies but also some interesting differences. The workshop was found to have an overall positive impact on changing the way participants intended to look for and use health information in the future, and on improving their knowledge about evidence-based health information, with 63.5% of respondents stating that they would use health information in the future to ask a doctor new questions. These findings offer important evidence of the need to plan nuanced health literacy education and information strategies for the general public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Already in its infancy, the World Wide Web was predicted to be a prime tool to promote healthier behaviors. The purpose of this paper is to compare the use of and trust in health information on the Internet during two points of time, 2001 and 2009. The target group of the study is the Finnish population aged 18-65 years. The empirical material is based on two similar postal surveys. Over the period, growth in Internet use was rapid. The results also show a huge growth in use of and trust in health information on the Internet. But still, the e-Health visions evoked in the late 1990s are far from fulfilled, since too many people seem not to seek or obtain health information from the Internet at all. Furthermore, still in 2009, approximately one-third of the respondents had no conception ('do not know') about the online health information reliability, due to the fact that they had used it too rarely or not at all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To determine the one-month prevalence of the seeking of web-based health information in the general adult population and to identify the symptoms associated with more frequent searching for information online. This was an observational cross-sectional study in a representative sample of 1,002 randomly selected Slovenian inhabitants. We used the method of computer-assisted telephone interviews. The questionnaire consisted of demographic questions, questions about the prevalence and duration of pre-selected symptoms in the past month, questions on the presence of chronic disease and a question about using the Internet for seeking health advice in the past month. Among 774 respondents who reported having had symptoms in the past month, 25.8% of them reported seeking health information on the Internet. The factors found to be independently associated with the seeking of health information on the Internet were a younger age, a higher education level and the presence of constipation, irritability, fatigue, memory impairment and excessive sweating in the past month. The study showed that the Internet was a common source of health information in the general adult population, particularly used for symptoms which are common but not well defined and not associated with a particular disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to assess the quality and accuracy of nutrition information about cancer prevention available on the Web. The keywords 'nutrition  +  diet  +  cancer  +  prevention' were submitted to the Google search engine. Out of 400 websites evaluated, 100 met the inclusion and exclusion criteria and were selected as the sample for the assessment of quality and accuracy. Overall, 54% of the studied websites had low quality, 48 and 57% had no author's name or information, respectively, 100% were not updated within 1 month during the study period and 86% did not have the Health on the Net seal. When the websites were assessed for readability using the Flesch Reading Ease test, nearly 44% of the websites were categorised as 'quite difficult'. With regard to accuracy, 91% of the websites did not precisely follow the latest WCRF/AICR 2007 recommendation. The quality scores correlated significantly with the accuracy scores ( r  =  0.250, p  <  0.05). Professional websites ( n  =  22) had the highest mean quality scores, whereas government websites ( n  =  2) had the highest mean accuracy scores. The quality of the websites selected in this study was not satisfactory, and there is great concern about the accuracy of the information being disseminated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined writer characteristics and themes written about in a set of 167 spontaneously published stories on a Dutch website for young women with breast cancer. The stories were coded for 6 disease characteristics and 16 themes. Coding results were compared with the characteristics of young women with breast cancer in a hospital cancer register and to the frequency of problems among young breast cancer patients participating in quantitative studies. We found that writer characteristics were diverse. Yet, logistic regression showed that women were more likely to be a writer if they were diagnosed at a younger age (OR 0.82; 95% CI (0.78, 0.85)), underwent a mastectomy (OR 4.63; 95% CI (2.59, 8.26)), or were in the first treatment period (OR 2.83; 95% CI (1.44, 5.58)). All 16 themes were present in the stories, but some themes were addressed less often than their frequency among participants of quantitative studies suggested. The findings indicate that a set of spontaneously published stories might not completely reflect the characteristics and themes of the wider population of young women with breast cancer. Websites with spontaneously published stories should inform readers about this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients are increasingly seeking health information on the Internet, but to the best of our knowledge, this has not been previously studied in haematology. We aimed to characterise online health information use and associated variables among adult outpatients in our tertiary-care centre in Flanders, Belgium. During a 6-week period, we distributed 477 anonymous self-administered questionnaires and received 451 (response rate 94.5%%), of which 444 (93.1%% of total) contained information on Internet use for health information, the primary outcome. Two hundred and thirty-two respondents (52.3%%) had ever sought any health information online, and 187 (33.1%%) conducted searches pertaining to their haematological disease in the past year. The latter was independently associated with younger age and a higher level of education in multivariate analysis. Internet users ranked the Internet higher and other resources lower as health information resources. Among Internet users, 196 (89.5%%) would be interested in a list of reliable websites about their disease. Patients reported positive and negative aspects of online health information-seeking; it increased anxiety in some while it stimulated coping in others. We conclude that haematological patients commonly use the Internet for health information and report both positive and negative aspects of using this medium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Cancer patients are at high risks of drug-drug interactions (DDIs). Clinicians need to know the magnitude of DDIs so as to better manage their patients' drug therapies. We have previously created a novel interaction database for oncology prescriptions (OncoRx). In this project, we leverage on 3G networks to further develop this database into an iPhone-specific application for the mobile internet ( OncoRx-MI). Methodology. Data on anticancer drugs (ACDs), chemotherapy regimens (CRegs) and DDIs with psychotropics were compiled from various hardcopy and online resources, and published articles from PubMed, Scopus and Science Direct. The database and iPhone web documents were designed using Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 and associated with a combination of open-source programming scripts. Results. OncoRx-MI currently detects over 5000 DDIs (69.3%% pharmacokinetic, 30.7%% pharmacodynamic) between 256 single-agent and combination CRegs with 51 psychotropic drugs. OncoRx-MI fits the iPhone screen configuration, and displays information regarding the regimen, pharmacokinetics of the drugs and detected DDIs in tabular format for improved usability. Conclusion. OncoRx-MI is the first mobile DDI application of its kind which detects interactions for combination CRegs. Future versions will include DDIs with other drug categories. Usability studies on its impact in clinical practice will also be carried out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents descriptive data from surveys that probed the use of health information by Internet users in Australia and New Zealand. Using this data, the article also contributes to understanding of factors associated with a series of Internet health information use outcomes. Four hundred six respondents (151 Australians; 255 New Zealanders) had used the Internet for health information and were asked about emailing doctors, Internet searching, taking Internet information to the doctor and perceptions of Internet information reliability. Regression analyses were conducted to examine associations between key outcomes and independent variables. A bootstrap procedure was performed to select variables used in logistic regression models. Fifty-two percent of health Internet users had emailed their doctor. Few significant differences between Australian and New Zealand responses were found. Internet use for health information was below levels found in North American and European studies, but there was similar prevalence of emailing and presenting Internet information to doctors. Emailers were more likely to believe this improved communication with doctors (OR = 3.59; 95%CI 1.95, 6.61). Frequent Internet searchers were more likely to take Internet information to their doctor (OR = 2.41; 1.47, 3.92), and believe the Internet to be a more useful information source (OR = 2.47; 1.22, 5.03). Females were less likely to email their doctor (OR = 0.47; 0.26, 0.85). More educated respondents were more likely to email their doctor (OR = 1.99; 1.16, 3.39) and to check website credentials (OR = 2.61; 1.53, 4.43). This study suggests that there is a digital divide among health care Internet users. It shows that, for males, email could have health care advantages. Doctors may need to develop strategies to deal with patients presenting with Internet information, including how to source information and check its credibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Internet has become one of the main drivers of e-health. Whilst its impact and potential is being analysed, the Web 2.0 phenomenon has reached the health field and has emerged as a buzzword that people use to describe a wide range of online activities and applications. The aims of this article are: to explore the opportunities and challenges of the Web 2.0 within the health care system and to identify the gap between the potential of these online activities and applications and the empirical data. The analysis is based on: online surveys to physicians, nurses, pharmacist and patient support groups; static web shot analysis of 1240 web pages and exploration of the most popular Web 2.0 initiatives. The empirical results contrast with the Web 2.0 trends identified. Whereas the main characteristic of the Web 2.0 is the opportunity for social interaction, the health care system at large could currently be characterised by: a lack of interactive communication technologies available on the Internet; a lack of professional production of health care information on the Internet, and a lack of interaction between these professionals and patients on the Internet. These results reveal a scenario away from 2.0 trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physicians have to deal with a broad range of medical problems in clinical practice, thus making the timely acquisition of relevant information is a critical skill for physicians to improve care quality. The current national study investigates how physicians search for medical information and analyses how they use online medical databases. A structured questionnaire survey was conducted, with 457 valid returns collected. Internet-based resources (Web portals, online databases, and electronic journals) were more often accessed by physicians to look for medical information than personal or paper ones. Almost universally, physicians have accessed online databases. MEDLINE was the most frequently accessed database. Furthermore, physicians under 50 years old tended to access online databases more often than their elder colleagues (OR = 5.27, 95% CI = 1.96-14.14 for age <35; OR = 4.68, 95% CI = 2.07-10.60 for ages 35-50). In addition, physicians with faculty position were more often accessing online databases (OR = 3.32; 95% CI = 1.75-6.30). Other factors — including clinical experience, administrative position, gender, academic degree, and professional specialty — carried no significant differences. These data may assist in determining how to promote the use of online evidence-based medical information for clinical services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the study was to determine physician's perception of the effects of health information on the internet on doctor-patient relationship. Online questionnaire with 25 items were sent to the Korean physicians' e-mail, and 493 replied. Eight-nine percent of the Korean physicians reported they had experiences of patients discussing the Internet health information. They perceived that Internet health information may enhance the patients' knowledge about their health. However, they perceived that Internet health information may have variety of negative effects such as; heightening the cost of health care by adopting the inappropriate health service utilisation (56.2%); making the patients over-concerned about their health (74.5%); damaging the time efficiency of the visit (60.9%). The physicians deemed that those informations were not relevant to the patients' health condition (42.7%), and even were not correct (39.0%). Physicians' perception of the Internet health information is both positive and negative, and they perceive the overall effects on doctor-patient relationship as neutral. More physicians think the discussion could be the hindrance on the efficient time management during their visits. However, more physicians have positive perception of the effects on the quality of care and patient outcomes which is promising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to explore the percentage of Dutch patients using the Internet to search for information about their illness. In addition, we studied patients' usage of health-related Internet applications, such as online patient support groups. The final objective of this study was to explore which demographic, health and psychological characteristics are related to patients' health-related Internet use. In order to answer these research questions we sent a written questionnaire to a representative sample of patients with breast cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia. The overall total response rate was 69% (N = 679). In total, 52% of the patients used the Internet to search for information about their illness. However, only 15% of the respondents had ever read along with an online patient support group. An even smaller proportion of the patients (4%) had send postings to such a group. Online communication with health professionals was not commonly practiced. A younger age, a higher education and employment appeared to be the only significant predictors of patients' health-related Internet use. Patients' health-related Internet use could not be predicted by health and psychological characteristics. Although, about half of the patients made use of the Internet for health-related reasons, mostly their health-related Internet use was restricted to seeking information about their illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on the new title of the journal "Medical Informatics and the Internet in Medicine," which is "Informatics for Health & Social Care. He states that the Editorial Board's aim is to ensure that the title is consistent with the content of the journal and that both title and content meet future needs. The author elaborates that the new title is intended to be inclusive but comprehensive and focused.