Background: Although eating disorders are common in the Netherlands, only a few patients are treated by mental health care professionals. To reach and treat more patients with eating disorders, Tactus Addiction Treatment developed a web-based treatment program with asynchronous and intensive personalized communication between the patient and the therapist. Objective: This pilot study evaluated the web-based treatment program using intensive therapeutic contact in a population of 165 patients...

Background: Physical activity (PA) for older adults has well-documented physical and cognitive benefits, but most seniors do not meet recommended guidelines for PA, and interventions are lacking. Objectives: This study evaluated the efficacy of a 12-week Internet intervention to help sedentary older adults over 55 years of age adopt and maintain an exercise regimen. Methods: A total of 368 sedentary men and women (M=60.3; SD 4.9) were recruited, screened, and assessed online. They were...

Background: Smoking tobacco is one of the most preventable causes of illness and death. Web-based tailored smoking cessation interventions have shown to be effective. Although these interventions have the potential to reach a large number of smokers, they often face high attrition rates, especially among lower educated smokers. A possible reason for the high attrition rates in the latter group is that computer-tailored smoking cessation interventions may not be attractive enough as they are...

Background: Self-help strategies offer a promising way to address problems with access to and stigma associated with face-to-face drug and alcohol treatment, and the Internet provides an excellent delivery mode for such strategies. To date, no study has tested the effectiveness of a fully self-guided web-based treatment for cannabis use and related problems. Objectives: The current study was a two-armed randomized controlled trial aimed at testing the effectiveness of Reduce Your...

Background: The application of information and communication technologies in nursing care is becoming more widespread, but few applications have been reported in neonatal care. A close monitoring of newborns within the first weeks of life is crucial to evaluating correct feeding, growth, and health status. Conventional hospital-based postdischarge monitoring could be improved in terms of costs and clinical effectiveness by using a telemedicine approach. Objective: To evaluate the...

Background: Patient empowerment reflects the ability of patients to positively influence their health and health behavior such as physical activity. While interactive Web-based interventions are increasingly used in various chronic disease settings to enhance empowerment and physical activity, such interventions are still uncommon for cancer survivors. Objective: The objective of this study was to systematically review the literature regarding interactive Web-based interventions. We focused...

Background: Recruiting participants to randomized controlled trials of health interventions can be very difficult. Internet-based recruitment is becoming an increasingly important mode of recruitment, yet there are few detailed accounts of experiences recruiting participants to mental health interventions. Objective: To report on our experience with Internet-based recruitment to an online depression prevention intervention and pass on lessons we learned. Methods: Participants were recruited...

Background: Physician-rating websites are currently gaining in popularity because they increase transparency in the health care system. However, research on the characteristics and content of these portals remains limited. Objective: To identify and synthesize published evidence in peer-reviewed journals regarding frequently discussed issues about physician-rating websites. Methods: Peer-reviewed English and German language literature was searched in seven databases (Medline (via PubMed), the...

Background: The Internet has become a popular venue for facilitating sex networking for men who have sex with men (MSM). Objective: The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of Internet popular opinion leaders (iPOL) in disseminating information about the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), increasing the frequency of HIV testing, and reducing risky behaviors among MSM in Taiwan. Methods: A quasi-experimental study with a nonequivalent control website for comparison was used to estimate...

Background: A growing number of health promotion interventions are taking advantage of the popularity and interactivity of new social media platforms to foster and engage communities for health promotion. However, few health promotion interventions using social networking sites (SNS) have been rigorously evaluated. "Queer as F**k"(QAF) began as pilot project in 2010 to deliver sexual health promotion via short "webisodes" on SNS to gay men. Now in its fifth season, QAF is...

Introduction: The amount of information being uploaded onto social video platforms, such as YouTube, Vimeo, and Veoh, continues to spiral, making it increasingly difficult to discern reliable health information from misleading content. There are thousands of YouTube videos promoting misleading information about anorexia (eg, anorexia as a healthy lifestyle). Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate anorexia-related misinformation disseminated through YouTube videos. Methods: We...

Background: Purchasing electronic health records (EHRs) typically follows a process in which potential adopters actively seek information, compare alternatives, and form attitudes towards the product. A potential source of information on EHRs that can be used in the process is vendor websites. It is unclear how much product information is presented on EHR vendor websites or the extent of its value during EHR purchasing decisions. Objective: To explore what features of EHR systems are...

Background: Participatory Web 2.0 interventions promote collaboration to support chronic disease self-management. Growth in Web 2.0 interventions has led to the emergence of e-patient communication tools that enable older adults to (1) locate and share disease management information and (2) receive interactive healthcare advice. The evolution of older e-patients contributing to Web 2.0 health and medical forums has led to greater opportunities for achieving better chronic disease outcomes. To...

Background: We lack a systematic portrait of the relationship between community involvement and how people interact with information. Young men who have sex with men (YMSM) are a population for which these relationships are especially salient: their gay community involvement varies and their information technology use is high. YMSM under age 24 are also one of the US populations with the highest risk of HIV/AIDS. Objective: To develop, test, and refine a model of gay community involvement...

Background: Personal health records (PHRs) are an important tool for empowering patients and stimulating health action. To date, the volitional adoption of publicly available PHRs by consumers has been low. This may be partly due to patient concerns about issues such as data security, accuracy of the clinical information stored in the PHR, and challenges with keeping the information updated. One potential solution to mitigate concerns about security, accuracy, and updating of information...

Background: Older adults are at increased risk of experiencing loneliness and depression, particularly as they move into different types of care communities. Information and communication technology (ICT) usage may help older adults to maintain contact with social ties. However, prior research is not consistent about whether ICT use increases or decreases isolation and loneliness among older adults. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine how Internet use affects perceived social...

Background: The Internet offers diverse opportunities for disease management, through information websites (Health 1.0) and interactive applications such as peer support forums, online consults, and insight into electronic medical records (Health 2.0). However, various skills are required to benefit from Health 1.0 and Health 2.0 applications for one’s own health, known as eHealth literacy. Objective: To study the eHealth literacy of patients with rheumatic diseases and the types of...

Background: Medical blogs have emerged as new media, extending to a wider range of medical audiences, including health professionals and patients to share health-related information. However, extraction of quality health-related information from medical blogs is challenging primarily because these blogs lack systematic methods to organize their posts. Medical blogs can be categorized according to their author into (1) physician-written blogs, (2) nurse-written blogs, and (3) patient-written...

Technology-based interventions to promote health are expanding rapidly. Assessing the preliminary efficacy of these interventions can be achieved by employing single-case experiments (sometimes referred to as n-of-1 studies). Although single-case experiments are often misunderstood, they offer excellent solutions to address the challenges associated with testing new technology-based interventions. This paper provides an introduction to single-case techniques and highlights advances in...

Background: Dental fear and anxiety (DFA) refers to the fear of and anxiety towards going to the dentist. It exists in a considerable proportion of children and adolescents and is a major dilemma in pediatric dental practice. As an Internet social medium with increasing popularity, the video-sharing website YouTube offers a useful data source for understanding health behaviors and perceptions of the public. Objective: Using YouTube as a platform, this qualitative study aimed to examine the...

Background: Recent publications on YouTube have advocated its potential for patient education. However, a reliable description of what could be considered quality information for patient education on YouTube is missing. Objective: To identify topics associated with the concept of quality information for patient education on YouTube in the scientific literature. Methods: A literature review was performed in MEDLINE, ISI Web of Knowledge, Scopus, and PsychINFO. Abstract selection was first...

Background: The United States is currently in an age of obesity and inactivity despite increasing public awareness and scientific knowledge of detrimental long-term health effects of this lifestyle. Behavior-tracking diaries offer an effective strategy for physical activity adherence and weight management. Furthermore, Web-based physical activity diaries can engage meaningful partners in people’s social networks through fun online gaming interactions and generate motivational mechanisms...

Background: Providing safety education to parents of young children is important in the prevention of unintentional injuries in or around the home. We developed a Web-based, tailored safety advice module to support face-to-face counseling in the setting of preventive youth health care (E-health4Uth home safety) in order to improve the provision of safety information for parents of young children. Objective: This pilot study evaluated a Web-based, tailored safety advice module (E-health4Uth...

Background: Most dietary and exercise interventions developed to date for cancer survivors have employed intensive clinic-based face-to-face counseling sessions. However, when the clinic-based face-to-face intervention ends, the participants cannot receive feedback from the experts, and the motivation for regular exercise and diet practices decreases. One way to overcome the shortcomings of clinic-based face-to-face intervention is to employ the Internet to this end. To maximize effectiveness...

Background: Most older cancer survivors (OCS) do not engage in regular physical activity (PA) despite well-known health benefits. With the increased use of mobile technologies among older adults, mobile tools may be an effective method to deliver PA promotion programs for OCS. Objective: To document the process of designing an OCS-friendly mobile-enabled Web application of PA promotion program. Methods: Mixed methods encompassing group discussions, individual interviews, and brief surveys...