Cancer, Me??: Health Care Advice Goes Online

Taenzer, Paul; Zendel, Ivan; Birdsell, Judy; McGregor, S. Elizabeth; Freiwald, Simon

doi:10.1007/978-1-4612-2246-0_12

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Patterson et al [ 17 ] identified three types of beneficial health outcomes for computer health care services: (1) education of people, (2) provision of social support or assistance in obtaining social support, and (3) change in health behaviors. Online support groups, including mailing lists, may provide both instrumental and social support [ 17 - 20 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How New Subscribers Use Cancer-Related Online Mailing Lists

Rimer¹,

Lyons²,

Ribisl³

et al. 2005

J Med Internet Res

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BackgroundOnline cancer-related support is an under-studied resource that may serve an important function in the information seeking, care, and support of cancer patients and their families. With over 9.8 million cancer survivors (defined as anyone living with cancer) in the United States alone and the number growing worldwide, it is important to understand how they seek and use online resources to obtain the information they need, when they need it, and in a form and manner appropriate to them. These are stated cancer communication goals of the US National Cancer Institute.ObjectivesOur purposes are to (1) present background information about online mailing lists and electronic support groups, (2) describe the rationale and methodology for the Health eCommunities (HeC) study, and (3) present preliminary baseline data on new subscribers to cancer-related mailing lists. In particular, we describe subscribers' use of mailing lists, their reasons for using them, and their reactions to participating shortly after joining the lists.MethodsFrom April to August 2004, we invited all new subscribers to 10 Association of Cancer Online Resources mailing lists to complete Web-based surveys. We analyzed baseline data from the respondents to examine their perceptions about cancer-related mailing lists and to describe how cancer patients and survivors used these lists in the period shortly after joining them.ResultsCumulative email invitations were sent to 1368 new mailing list subscribers; 293 Web surveys were completed within the allotted time frame (21.4% response rate). Most respondents were over age 50 (n = 203, 72%), white (n = 286, 98%), college graduates (n = 161, 55%), and had health insurance (n = 283, 97%). About 41% (n = 116) of new subscribers reported spending 1 to 3 hours per day reading and responding to list messages. They used the mailing lists for several reasons. Among the most frequently reported, 62% (n = 179) strongly agreed they used mailing lists to obtain information on how to deal with cancer, 42% (n = 121) strongly agreed they used mailing lists for support, and 37% (n = 109) strongly agreed that they were on the mailing lists to help others. Smaller proportions of new subscribers strongly agreed that others on the mailing lists had similar cancer experiences (n = 23, 9%), that they could relate to the experiences of others on the lists (n = 66, 27%), and that others on the list gave them good ideas about how to cope with cancer (n = 66, 27%).ConclusionsCancer-related online mailing lists appear to be an important resource, especially for information seeking but also for support of cancer survivors. These were the primary motivators most members reported for joining mailing lists. The modest proportion of subscribers who strongly agreed that they could relate to others' cancer experiences (as well as similar responses to other process questions) is undoubtedly due at least in part to the short duration that these subscribers were involved with the mailing lists. Emerging data, including our own, sugg...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How New Subscribers Use Cancer-Related Online Mailing Lists

Rimer¹,

Lyons²,

Ribisl³

et al. 2005

J Med Internet Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As our understanding and comfort level has increased, health technology has steadily made its transition to providing education, information, advice, and emotional support (Boberg, Gustafson, Hawkins, Bricker, Pingree, McTavish, Wise, Owens, & Botha, 1997;K. A. Smyth, Feinstein, & Kacerek, 1997;Taenzer, Zendel, Birdsell, McGregor, & Freidwald, 1997).…”

Section: Use Of Technology To Promote Health Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Technology in Mediating Use of Outpatient Substance Abuse Treatment Services

Mosavel¹

2004

Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions

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This study examined the relationship between Connect, a telephone-based information and support system, and the use of outpatient substance abuse treatment services. Regression models were formulated to examine the relationship between use of substance abuse treatment services and Connect. The results indicate that Connect use was not significantly related to the likelihood of using treatment (N = 240). However, an inverse relationship was found between Connect and use of treatment services (n = 123). The findings raise the conceptual issue of whether one introduces technology as an "add-on" to or as a "substitute for" traditional substance abuse treatment services.

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Cancer, Me??: Health Care Advice Goes Online

Cited by 2 publications

References 4 publications

How New Subscribers Use Cancer-Related Online Mailing Lists

How New Subscribers Use Cancer-Related Online Mailing Lists

The Role of Technology in Mediating Use of Outpatient Substance Abuse Treatment Services

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