Sciamanna Christopher N, Clark Melissa A, Houston Thomas K, Diaz Joseph A
Department of Community Health, Brown Medical School, The Miriam Hospital, Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, Providence, RI 02903, USA.
J Med Internet Res. 2002 Dec;4(3):E19. doi: 10.2196/jmir.4.3.e19.
Millions of people use the Internet as a source for health information yet little is understood about the use of the Internet for other health-related activities.
We conducted the present study to understand, among primary care patients, the interest in and experience with using the Internet for a variety of health-related activities.
Cross-sectional survey in the setting of 4 community-based primary care practices in Rhode Island. A single self-administered questionnaire included the following: 14 items measuring interest in using the Internet for a variety of health-related purposes, demographics, self-reported health status, and self-reported health care quality.
The survey was completed by 300 patients, 109 without access to the Internet and 191 with access to the Internet. Experiences with and attitudes about each of the health-related activities on the Internet varied widely across each activity. Regardless of access, patients were most interested in using the Internet for finding information about diseases and medications. However, patients with Internet access were more interested, compared to those without access, in each of the health-related activities on the Internet. Among patients with access to the Internet, the largest gap between interest and experience (the opportunity gap) was in using the Internet to investigate the quality of their care (eg, "find out if your health care provider was giving you all of the tests and treatments that you are due to have?") and administrative functions (eg, "schedule an appointment with your doctor?").
Much opportunity remains for developing health-related Internet Web sites to address the unmet needs of primary care patients.
数以百万计的人将互联网作为健康信息的来源，但对于互联网在其他与健康相关活动中的使用情况却知之甚少。
我们开展本研究，以了解初级保健患者对利用互联网进行各种与健康相关活动的兴趣及体验。
在罗德岛州4个社区初级保健机构中进行横断面调查。一份单一的自填式问卷包括以下内容：14项用于衡量对利用互联网实现各种与健康相关目的的兴趣、人口统计学信息、自我报告的健康状况以及自我报告的医疗保健质量。
300名患者完成了调查，其中109人无法访问互联网，191人可以访问互联网。患者对互联网上各项与健康相关活动的体验和态度在每项活动中差异很大。无论是否能够访问互联网，患者最感兴趣的都是利用互联网查找疾病和药物信息。然而，与无法访问互联网的患者相比，能够访问互联网的患者对互联网上各项与健康相关活动的兴趣更高。在能够访问互联网的患者中，兴趣与体验之间最大的差距（机会差距）在于利用互联网调查其医疗保健质量（例如，“了解您的医疗保健提供者是否为您提供了所有应进行的检查和治疗？”）以及行政功能（例如，“与您的医生预约？”）。
开发与健康相关的互联网站点以满足初级保健患者未满足的需求仍有很大空间。
