Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Introduction to evaluation of interactive health communication applications

1999; Elsevier BV; Volume: 16; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0749-3797(98)00107-x

1873-2607

Thomas R. Eng, David H. Gustafson, Joseph V. Henderson, Holly Jimison, Kevin Patrick,

Primary Care and Health Outcomes

Virtually all aspects of society have been altered in some way by advances in computer and communication technologies. In 1997, the information technology industry was the single largest industry in the United States in terms of sales and accounted for 33% of the growth in GDP in 1996. 1 American Electronics Association. Cybernation. Accessed January 28, 1998. Available from: URL: http://sc-notes1.aeanet.org/www/ResearchStatistics.nsf/homepage/index.html Google Scholar , 2 National Telecommunications and Information Administration. NTIA Information. Accessed February 21, 1998. Available from: URL: http://www.ntia.gov/nitahome/about97.htm Google Scholar An estimated 41.5 million U.S. adults were active users of the Internet in 1997, 3 Cyber Dialogue, Inc. American Internet User Survey finds more than 41.5 million U.S. adults are actively using the Internet. Accessed March 5, 1998. Available from: URL: http://www.cyberdialogue.com/frame.html Google Scholar and more than 43% of Internet users have used it to research health information. 4 FIND/SVP, Inc. The 1997 American Internet User Survey. Accessed February 18, 1998. Available from: URL: http://etrg.findsvp.com/internet/findf.html Google Scholar At the same time that these new technologies have emerged, consumers seem to be demanding increasing access to a wide range of information, b For example, less than one year after free Medline searches became available on the Web, the number of searches increased 10-fold, and 30% of users were members of the general public (Testimony of Dr. Donald A.B. Lindberg, Director, National Library of Medicine to the House Appropriations Sub-Committee on Labor, HHS and Education, March 18, 1998. Accessed on April 6, 1998. Available from: URL: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/staffpubs/od/budget99.html including health information, and social support as a vehicle for recovering from illness.