The Differential Effects of Social Media Sites for Promoting Cancer Risk Reduction.

Social media are potentially valuable tools for disseminating cancer education messages, but the differential effects of various sites on persuasive outcomes are unknown. In an effort to inform future health promotion, this research tested the effects of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and blogs for delivering a cancer risk reduction message. Using an experimental design, participants were randomly placed in several conditions that delivered the same message but with different forms of social media.

The State and Sustainability of Telepsychiatry Programs.

Telepsychiatry, or the provision of psychiatric care across a distance using communication technologies, has become widespread and has been used successfully for treating a variety of mental illnesses. Little is known, however, about the sustainability of telepsychiatry programs and their long-term success. The goal of this study was to determine current trends in telepsychiatry by completing an extensive literature review and to follow-up with the authors of telepsychiatry research to examine the current status of their programs and success factors or barriers associated with their experiences.

Including men in prenatal health: the potential of e-health to improve birth outcomes.

Background: The U.S. infant mortality rate is the highest in the developed world, and disparity impacts underserved populations.

BARRIERS AND CONTRIBUTORS TO SUCCESS IN TELEMEDICINE: A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF A STRUGGLING TELEPSYCHIATRY PROJECT AND A SAMPLING OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL PROGRAMMES.

Telemedicine programmes, though popular and increasingly effective, can sometimes fail with little indication as to why they did so. This study provides first a qualitative analysis of the authors' failed telepsychiatry project, and second, an interview study completed with personnel from successful telepsychiatry programmes. Together, these shed light on what went wrong with the authors' project, and also provide insight about critical factors for telepsychiatry success.

Tools for assessing the quality and accessibility of online health information: initial testing among breast cancer websites.

Health websites are used frequently, but there are many concerns about their value as information sources. Additionally, there are numerous personal barriers that prevent individuals from wholly benefitting from them. In order to assess the quality of health websites and their accessibility to users, we created tools based on previous research that examine design aspects, information validity, motivational health content and literacy content.

Comparison of social support content within online communities for high- and low-survival-rate cancers.

People experiencing cancer use the Internet for many reasons, particularly for social support. This study sought to determine how social support content within online support communities for different cancers varied according to cancer survival rate. A quantitative content analysis was conducted on 3717 posts from eight online communities focused on cancers with high and low 5-year relative survival rates.

An examination into audience targeting and the use of storytelling or statistical evidence on breast cancer websites.

Objective: This research sought to address the presence of information targeting low literacy, racially diverse, non-English speaking, and age diverse audiences on breast cancer websites. In addition, this study documented the utilization of evidence strategies, either statistics or storytelling, for these audiences.

Methods: This research examined these relationships on 157 breast cancer websites through content analysis.

An evaluation of telehealth websites for design, literacy, information and content.

We examined 62 telehealth websites using four assessment criteria: design, literacy, information and telehealth content. The websites came from the member list of the American Telemedicine Association and the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth and partner sites, and were included if they were currently active and at least three clicks deep. Approximately 130 variables were examined for each website by two independent researchers.

An independent investigation into the deployment of the federal communications commissions' rural health care pilot program.

Objective: the goal of this study was to provide an independent and objective evaluation of the implementation of the Federal Communications Commission's Rural Health Care Pilot Program.

Materials And Methods: thirty-nine of the programs that were provided funding through this program were interviewed and asked about their project deployment, network planning, and the involvement of their state in implementation.

Results: RESULTS showed that programs recruited project team members from a variety of fields to fulfill different roles.

Challenges of the rural healthcare pilot program broadband initiative.

The Federal Communication Commission initiated the Rural Healthcare Pilot Program Broadband Initiative in 2007 to provide funds for deployment of broadband networks to rural areas. The purpose of this paper is to highlight some of the preliminary findings of the first phase of a larger study designed to assess the implementation and effectiveness of the Rural Healthcare Pilot Program. Interviews with 40 organizations (response rate = 64.

Keys to a successful and sustainable telemedicine program.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine organizational characteristics evident in successful telemedicine programs. The study proposed four research questions to identify the key organizational characteristics for successful telemedicine programs.

Methods: Data were collected through an online survey using modified unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) and organizational change readiness (ORC) validated assessments.

Managing asthma with mobile phones: a feasibility study.

Asthma is a chronic disease and a growing health problem worldwide. The objective of this pilot study was to test the feasibility and utilization of tracking asthma symptoms through an innovative mobile phone application. The subjects for this research project consisted of 4 individuals who are currently receiving treatment for asthma from a primary care physician in Ingham County, Michigan.

Telehospice: reasons for slow adoption in home hospice care.

We investigated why hospice nurses were slow to adopt videophones to care for their patients. We used the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model and the organizational readiness for change (ORC) assessment via interviews and focus groups with hospice staff. Twenty-five hospice employees participated.

St. Vincent's Home telehealth for congestive heart failure patients.

St. Vincent's Homecare implemented a remote monitoring project in which researchers studied whether the telehome health patients exhibit enhanced clinical outcomes and patient perceptions of telehome healthcare. Fifty congestive heart failure patients (n = 50) participated in this program.

Provider utilization of telemedicine: the elephant in the room.

This paper addresses the challenge of provider underutilization of telehealth which continues to surface as an ongoing problem. In addition, this essay offers a list of ideas to serve as a starting point from which to address this key issue.

Critical steps to scaling telehealth for national reform.

Telehealth services show great promise to expand access to care while improving patient safety and reducing costs of care for all Americans. The expansion of telehealth has been slowed by a host of factors, including limited reimbursement, legal and regulatory barriers, limited provider capacity, and a lack of general public knowledge and/or acceptance of telehealth technologies and services. To hasten the expansion of telehealth requires a multifaceted and coordinated approach that will include healthcare professionals, regulators, payers, lawmakers, and patients.

A series of papers for those yearning to propel telehealth to new heights.

If you are taking the time to read this essay, you are most likely interested in telemedicine and its future in some capacity. This introductory essay and accompanying series of white papers have a relatively simple goal, namely, to highlight a broad array of issues that must be addressed in order to propel telemedicine to its next stage in evolutionary development.

Communication Assessment of the Most Frequented Breast Cancer Websites: Evaluation of Design and Theoretical Criteria.

Unlabelled: The internet is a prominent source of health information for the public. This research evaluated both basic use and design tenets and the presence of theoretical components to motivate healthy breast cancer behavior for users of the most frequented breast cancer websites.

Methodology: Each website was evaluated with 2 sets of questions.

Use of telemedicine for haemodialysis: perceptions of patients and health-care providers, and clinical effects.

In Michigan, the use of telemedicine for dialysis patients began in three centres in 2005. A total of 747 clinical consultations was conducted in the following 22 months. Telephone surveys were conducted with 34 patients and four providers.

Factors impacting providers' perceptions regarding a midwestern university-based EMR.

The potential for Information Technology (IT) to enhance the healthcare provision has long been recognized. One application of IT in healthcare, Electronic Medical Records (EMR) systems, has generated particular interest. Technical and structural barriers are often analyzed to understand EMR deployment.

A systematic review of research methodology in telemedicine studies.

We conducted a systematic review of 15 relevant databases for articles about telemedicine. After eliminating articles that did not meet the inclusion criteria, 1615 remained for analysis. Three raters coded the articles to assess various theoretical and methodological variables.

Successful adoption of a school-based telemedicine system.

Background: Telemedicine, the provision of healthcare at a distance via telecommunication technology, has been used to address a wide range of health concerns in a variety of settings. Given the challenges schools face in keeping students healthy, telemedicine could be viewed as a mechanism to provide healthcare services directly to students in schools. This research focuses on a school-based telemedicine project in Kansas, a project of the Kansas University Medical Center (KUMC) called TeleKidcare.