Development of Review Criteria to Evaluate Health Behavior Change Websites

Abstract

A growing number of major health care organizations, such as the American Heart Association and the Mayo Clinic, are investing considerable resources in developing and marketing Internet-based programs for health promotion and disease management. These programs have the potential to provide some of the best-tailored interventions in behavior change science at relatively low costs. This report discusses review criteria developed in order to conduct a systematic evaluation of Internet programs for preventive behaviors (alcohol, diet, exercise and smoking) and disease management (pediatric asthma, depression and diabetes.) These criteria can be used to develop and evaluate the quality of health promotion programs on the Internet.

Effectiveness of smoking cessation self-help materials in a lung cancer screening population

“…Attention, therefore, should be placed on the interactive and counseling aspects of web-based interventions. Perhaps if future studies include web-based health resources criteria for evaluating the quality of Internet health programs [26], the efficacy of these interventions can be improved.…”

The Role of Personality Characteristics in Young Adult Driving

“…These personality characteristics could be used to match interventions to individuals, thereby providing a closer link between intervention message and purpose, and the characteristics of the person receiving the intervention. In today's fast-growing technological world, the development of interventions that are computer-tailored in real time to address the characteristics of individual recipients is feasible, and is being used in an increasing number of settings and to address many different behaviors (Ausems et al, 2002;Carlson et al, 2000;August et al, 2001;Chiauzzi et al, 2005;Cummins et al, 2003;Werch, 2001;Werch et al, 2005). This approach may also show promise for tailoring driving safety interventions to individuals.…”

Development and design of an intervention to improve physical activity in pregnant women using Text4baby

“…Pregnant women have specifically requested current evidence-based recommendations for physical activity to help them to be more active [22]. However, studies have suggested that women may not know how to evaluate the accuracy of the information they receive and do not consistently check the source of information [26,27]. Recent theories posit that improving the quality and precision of information about physical activity may be insufficient to change this behavior; the timing and Policy: Health care providers could easily, with little resources (i.e., time, money) use Text4baby to refer patients to evidence-based information about physical activity during and after pregnancy.…”