BACKGROUND: Psychoeducational programs are increasingly being delivered over the Internet. We created an Internet-based, cognitive therapy, self-help program to be used as a stand-alone intervention for mild-to-moderate depression, or as an adjunct to traditional services for more severe depression. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of a web-based intervention program to reduce depression in a randomized, controlled trial METHODS: In a private, nonprofit health maintenance...

BACKGROUND: The role of patients in the management and control of type 1 diabetes mellitus, a chronic disease, is well established. The advent of new communication technologies is expected to improve patients' access to health information. However, little is known about the extent to which patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus use the Internet to retrieve medical information and about the impact, if any, this retrieval has on their health status. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the accessibility and...

BACKGROUND: 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. OBJECTIVE: 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. METHODS: Cross-sectional survey in the setting of 4 community-based primary care practices in Rhode Island. A single self-administered...

BACKGROUND: Modern health care is provided with close cooperation among many different institutions and professionals, using their specialized expertise in a common effort to deliver best-quality and, at the same time, cost-effective services. Within this context of the growing need for information exchange, the demand for realization of data networks interconnecting various health care institutions at a regional level, as well as a national level, has become a practical necessity....

Background: The Internet and emergent telecommunications infrastructures are transforming the future of health care management. The costs of health care delivery systems, products, and services continue to rise everywhere, but performance of health care delivery is associated with institutional and ideological considerations as well as availability of financial and technological resources. Objective: To identify the effects of ideological differences on health care market infrastructures...

BACKGROUND: A number of organisations have begun to provide specific tools for searching, rating, and grading this information, while others have set up codes of conduct by which site providers can attest to their high quality services. The aim of such tools is to assist individuals to sift through the mountains of information available so as to be better able to discern valid and reliable messages from those which are misleading or inaccurate. OBJECTIVE: Recognising that European citizens...