[Core competencies for public health teaching: regional framework for the AmericasCompetências essenciais para a docência em saúde pública: um marco regional para as Américas].

Objective: To present the Regional Core Competency Framework for Public Health (RCCFPH) and the methodology used for its development.

Methods: A participatory methodology was used for this descriptive study, using techniques such as questionnaires, discussions, pair work, extreme cases, jigsaw, data evaluation matrices, iterative reviews, and comparative analyses. The study was carried out over nine stages, bringing together experts from public health institutions and schools, as well as primary health care professionals in the Americas.

Information needs and Internet use in urological and breast cancer patients.

Aims: This study aims to describe the information needs of urological and breast cancer patients and factors related to use of the Internet as a source of health information.

Methodology: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out, using individual questionnaire-based interviews held during the oncology appointments of 169 patients with urological cancer and 100 with breast cancer at the Virgen de las Nieves University Hospital in Granada, Spain. The variables studied were use of the Internet as a source of health information, health status, patient's role in the decision-making process, information sources, satisfaction with the health-care system, type of information received, and Internet use.

Adapting the content of cancer web sites to the information needs of patients: reliability and readability.

Background: People who use the Internet to research health topics do not usually find all the information they need and do not trust what they read. This study was designed to assess the reliability, accessibility, readability, and popularity of cancer Web sites in Spanish and to analyze the suitability of Web site content in accordance with the specific information needs of cancer patients.

Materials And Methods: This was a two-phase, cross-sectional, descriptive study.

[Core competencies in public health: a regional framework for the Americas].

The response is described to the 2010 call from the Pan American Health Organization to develop a Regional Framework on Core Competencies in Public Health, with a view to supporting the efforts of the countries in the Americas to build public health systems capacity as a strategy for optimal performance of the Essential Public Health Functions. The methodological process for the response was divided into four phases. In the first, a team of experts was convened who defined the methodology to be used during a workshop at the National Institute of Public Health of Mexico in 2010.

Use of social media by Spanish hospitals: perceptions, difficulties, and success factors.

This exploratory study has two aims: (1) to find out if and how social media (SM) applications are used by hospitals in Spain and (2) to assess hospital managers' perception of these applications in terms of their evaluation of them, reasons for use, success factors, and difficulties encountered during their implementation. A cross-sectional survey has been carried out using Spanish hospitals as the unit of analysis. Geographical differences in the use of SM were found.

Factors related to use of the Internet as a source of health information by urological cancer patients.

Aims: The aims of this study were to describe the profile of urological cancer patients who look for health information on the Internet and to analyse the factors related to use of the Internet as a source of health information.

Methodology: A cross-sectional descriptive study using individual, semi-structured, questionnaire-based interviews was carried out in oncology clinics in a hospital in Granada (Spain) in a sample group of 169 patients with prostate, bladder and kidney cancer. The dependent variable was use of the Internet as a source of health information.

Are the health messages in schoolbooks based on scientific evidence? A descriptive study.

Background: Most textbooks contains messages relating to health. This profuse information requires analysis with regards to the quality of such information. The objective was to identify the scientific evidence on which the health messages in textbooks are based.

Sex differences in the use of the Internet as a source of health information among adolescents.

Background: The Internet is a fundamental part of the day-to-day lives of adolescents. Faced with the difficulties of accessing conventional health services, adolescents use the Internet as a confidential and safe means of accessing information about health issues.

Objectives: To describe sex differences in the way in which adolescents search for health information on the Internet.

Use of the internet as a source of health information by Spanish adolescents.

Background: The Internet is a fundamental part of the daily life of adolescents, they consider it as a safe and confidential source of information on health matters. The aims is to describe the experience of Spanish adolescents searching for health information on the Internet.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of 811 school-age adolescents in Granada was carried out.

[Accessibility of web sites on health for the elderly].

Background: The development and dissemination of the Internet offers new opportunities to meet the needs of older people. To develop this potential, access to the available resources must be guaranteed. Our aims are: (1) To identify web sites in Spanish with information on healthcare for older adults and (2) to assess the accessibility of the web sites selected.

Interventions to promote the use of advance directives: an overview of systematic reviews.

Objective: To identify, appraise and synthesise the results of systematic reviews of the literature (SRLs) that examines the effectiveness of interventions to increase advance directive (AD) completion rate.

Methods: Narrative review of the literature-an overview of SRLs focused on interventions to improve patients' AD completion rate.

Results: Seven SRLs were located.

[Assessment of websites with information on medicines].

Aims: To identify websites with information on medicines and assess, using experts, their adherence to codes of conduct and recommendations by the WHO.

Design: Cross-sectional study based on an ad hoc designed questionnaire (performed independently by 2 reviewers). The websites were identified by the Delphi technique (35 experts).

[Adherence to codes of conduct for biomedical information on the internet in useful websites for pharmacotherapy follow-up].

Objectives: To assess adherence to four codes of conduct in websites providing information useful for pharmacotherapy follow-up.

Methods: We performed a descriptive study of adherence to quality criteria in 19 websites. These sites had been identified in a previous study as being those most frequently used by pharmacists.

[Questionnaire to evaluate health web sites according to European criteria].

Objectives: To design a questionnaire to evaluate compliance with quality criteria on health web sites and to analyse its reliability.

Design: A descriptive study on the reliability of a questionnaire.

Participants: Twenty web sites on health topics.