The rural context and women's self-management of chronic health conditions.

Objective: To examine the rural context and describe its influence on the self-management of chronic illness by women living in a rural setting.

Methods: The Women to Women (WTW) project is a research-based computer intervention that provides health education and peer support to rural women with chronic health conditions. Messages posted to the online support and health education chat rooms were examined to determine the characteristics of the rural context in relation to the women's illness self-management.