Journal of medical Internet research
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Lack of consensus on the meaning of eHealth has led to uncertainty among academics, policymakers, providers and consumers. This project was commissioned in light of the rising profile of eHealth on the international policy agenda and the emerging UK National Programme for Information Technology (now called Connecting for Health) and related developments in the UK National Health Service. ⋯ We surmise that the field -- as it stands today -- may be characterized by the global definitions suggested by Eysenbach and Eng.
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J. Med. Internet Res. · Jan 2005
Randomized Controlled TrialOvercoming Depression on the Internet (ODIN) (2): a randomized trial of a self-help depression skills program with reminders.
Guided self-help programs for depression (with associated therapist contact) have been successfully delivered over the Internet. However, previous trials of pure self-help Internet programs for depression (without therapist contact), including an earlier trial conducted by us, have failed to yield positive results. We hypothesized that methods to increase participant usage of the intervention, such as postcard or telephone reminders, might result in significant effects on depression. ⋯ In contrast to our earlier trial, in which participants were not reminded to use ODIN, in this trial we found a positive effect of the ODIN intervention compared to the control group. Future studies should address limitations of this trial, including relatively low enrollment and follow-up completion rates, and a restricted number of outcome measures. However, the low incremental costs of delivering this Internet program makes it feasible to offer this type of program to large populations with widespread Internet access.
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J. Med. Internet Res. · Dec 2004
Clinical TrialFeasibility of collecting diary data from asthma patients through mobile phones and SMS (short message service): response rate analysis and focus group evaluation from a pilot study.
Self-management of asthma may improve asthma outcomes. The Internet has been suggested as a tool for the monitoring and self-management of asthma. However, in a recent study we found that a Web interface had some disadvantages and that users stopped using the application after a short while. ⋯ This study suggests that SMS collection of asthma diary data is feasible, and that SMS may be a tool for supporting the self-management of asthma (and possibly other chronic diseases) in motivated and self-efficacious patients because mobile phones are a part of people's everyday lives and enable active requests for data wherever the patient is. The combination of SMS data collection and a traditional Web page for data display and system customization may be a better and more usable tool for patients than the use of Web-based asthma diaries which suffer from high attrition rates.
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J. Med. Internet Res. · Nov 2004
Review Meta AnalysisThe effectiveness of Web-based vs. non-Web-based interventions: a meta-analysis of behavioral change outcomes.
A primary focus of self-care interventions for chronic illness is the encouragement of an individual's behavior change necessitating knowledge sharing, education, and understanding of the condition. The use of the Internet to deliver Web-based interventions to patients is increasing rapidly. In a 7-year period (1996 to 2003), there was a 12-fold increase in MEDLINE citations for "Web-based therapies." The use and effectiveness of Web-based interventions to encourage an individual's change in behavior compared to non-Web-based interventions have not been substantially reviewed. ⋯ The effect size comparisons in the use of Web-based interventions compared to non-Web-based interventions showed an improvement in outcomes for individuals using Web-based interventions to achieve the specified knowledge and/or behavior change for the studied outcome variables. These outcomes included increased exercise time, increased knowledge of nutritional status, increased knowledge of asthma treatment, increased participation in healthcare, slower health decline, improved body shape perception, and 18-month weight loss maintenance.
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J. Med. Internet Res. · Feb 2004
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialCan clinical trials requiring frequent participant contact be conducted over the Internet? Results from an online randomized controlled trial evaluating a topical ointment for herpes labialis.
The Internet has tremendous appeal for conducting randomized clinical trials and may be especially applicable to trials requiring frequent participant contact. Trials of cold sore remedies, for example, often require daily clinic visits during outbreaks, imposing substantial burden on participants. An Internet-based randomized clinical trial design may reduce this burden, permitting frequent symptom reports with considerably less effort. ⋯ We efficiently recruited participants and achieved high overall retention rates. However, participant adherence to the daily outbreak visit schedules was low and only 7 (50%) participants used the cream as directed. These limitations could be addressed in future Internet-based studies by using Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), using reminder devices, and providing incentives. By enhancing participant adherence, clinical trials requiring frequent participant contact may be feasible over the Internet.